Acquiring Precision Doppler Measurements with Juno's Ka-band Translator for Increased Science

One of the instruments onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter is a Ka-band Translator (KaT), which provides the capability to add a second radio link between the Juno spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network antennae. Juno’s KaT was provided to NASA’s Juno mission by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and built by Thales Alenia Space-Italy. The KaT consists of the Ka-band Translator instrument, which receives an uplink Ka-band carrier radio signal from the DSN and phase-coherently re-transmits the signal back to the DSN, and a Ka-band Solid State Power Amplifier (Ka-SSPA) which amplifies the downlink signal through Juno’s High Gain Antenna. The KaT was designed to acquire precision Doppler measurements which are used in the analysis gravity science to probe Jupiter’s interior structure. Together, it is known as the KaTS. In the prime mission, Juno was able to utilize the KaT to <10 micron/second of Doppler measurement precision at 60-s integration time; leading to discoveries on Jupiter’s asymmetric interior structure and the depths of the zonal flow, and more. In the extended mission, the KaTS was applied to gravity science and radio occultation measurements of Ganymede, Europa, and Io along with continuing investigations of Jupiter’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and plasma features. This work will describe the KaTS throughout the mission and the science return.