MESSENGER solar scintillation measurements at superior solar conjunction

During the superior solar conjunction of spacecraft, the spacecraft have a very limited communication with the ground station due to the effects of the Sun on the RF signal transmission. Our analyses of data received during a recent solar conjunction of MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENivornment, GEochmeisty, and Ranging) shown that within the time during which a single frame is transmitted, the RF signal propagation is strongly dominated by amplitude scintillation. We observed frequency broadening in our data on a time scale that is on the order of hours. The scintillation index is also calculated. The X-band scintillation data follows a curve that is representative of Ka-band performance as predicted by a previous model.