Validation of Korea Deep Space Antenna with NASA Spacecraft Tracking

This paper presents our effort in validating the capability andperformance of the first Korean deep space antenna (KDSA)that was built to support the country’s first lunar mission - theKorean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) which is also knownas Danuri. Prior to KPLO launch, we leveraged on the NASAspacecraft – the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) andJuno - currently in flight to support this testing effort. The testswere conducted on a non-interference basis. These testshelped validate the KDSA’s key functions such as ephemerisprocessing, antenna pointing, spacecraft signal acquisition anddemodulation under realistic Doppler signal conditions,generation of tracking data output, etc. System performancemetrics such as antenna gain/temperature (G/T) was alsoestimated from these tests.