Voyager 1 Saturn Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) Calibrated Low-Frequency Receiver Band, V

VG1-S-PRA-3-RDR-LOWBAND-6SEC-V1.0 contains calibrated low-frequency radio astronomy data from the Voyager 1 spacecraft's Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) instrument during its Saturn encounter. The dataset covers the period from 1980-08 22 to 1980-12-14 and provides the highest time resolution possible during normal operations, with sweeps through 70 low-band channels every 6 seconds. Data are provided in ASCII format with calibrated power measurements in millibels.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations in Saturn's radio emissions based on the 6-second sweep cadence.
• Studying low-frequency radio spectrum characteristics based on the 70 channels from 1326.0 kHz to 1.2 kHz.
• Calibrating or validating radio astronomy models based on the calibrated millibel power units.
• Investigating spacecraft or receiver noise signatures based on the described minimum detected values of 2300-2400 mB.

Strengths

• Data is calibrated and provided in defined physical units (millibels).
• Covers the entire Saturn encounter phase from 1980-08-22 to 1980-12-14.
• Provides the highest time resolution (6-second sweeps) available during normal PRA operations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data format specifics and handling of missing/bad values (set to zero) require careful interpretation.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Acquired by the Voyager 1 Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) instrument.

Time Range

1980-08-22 to 1980-12-14

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:35:03.219243; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Saturn encounter region (spacecraft trajectory).