Theory of GNSS Radio Occultation - GNSS Remote Sensing: Theory, Methods and Applications - page 97

Table 5.1 Celestial bodies investigated by the radio occultation technique except the Earth
Celestial bodies

Spacecraft Years

Mars Mariner 4, 6, 7 1965, 1969

Mars 2, 4, 6 1971, 1974

Mariner 9 1971

Viking 1, 2 1976

MGS (Mars Global Surveyor) 1998

MEX (Mars Express) 2003

MRO (Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter)

2005

Venus Mariner 5, 10 1967, 1974

Venera 9, 10 1975

Pioneer Venus 1979

Venera 15, 16 1983

Magellan 1991

Mercury Mariner 10 1974

Jupiter Pioneer 10, 11 1974

Voyager 1, 2 1979

Galileo 1995

Saturn (and Saturnian rings) Pioneer 11 1976

Voyager 1, 2 1980, 1981

Cassini 2005

Uranus (and Uranium rings) Voyager 2 1986

Neptune Voyager 2 1988

Moon Earth's Moon Luna 19, 22 1973, 1974

Titan Saturn's Moon Voyager 1 1980

Cassini 2006

Io Juipter's Moon Pioneer 10 1974

Galileo 1997

Europa, Ganymede, Callisto Galileo 1996-1997

Halley's Comet Vega 1, 2 1986

Triton Neptune's Moon Voyager 2 1989

Pluto New Horizons 2015

geostationary satellite in July 1975 (Rangaswamy 1976 ). Another RO experiment
based on the radio link between ATS-6 and GEOS-3 (Geodynamics Experimental
Ocean Satellite-3) on a circular polar orbit was documented by Liu ( 1978 ). Yakovlev
et al. ( 1995 ) presented preliminary results of radio occultation experiments, which
were performed by using the orbital station MIR and a retranslating geostationary
satellite.
Note that the RO observation requires a pair of a radio source and a suitable
receiver off the Earth. To monitor the state of the atmosphere will require a sufficient
number of daily RO soundings to fulfill the meteorological tasks. However, the high
cost of implementing a large number of new transmitters and receivers in the space
to achieve the sampling goal makes the technique not attractable by then.