Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) for radio occultation studies: A Venus Express test case

The thesis that you are about to read deals with the implementation of a technique to study atmospheres of planets or moons in the Solar System. We use radio telescopes on Earth to track spacecraft that are orbiting planets, and use the signal the spacecraft emits, as it crosses the planet’s atmosphere, to investigate its physical characteristics. Amazing, isn’t it? Often, we get lost in our daily routines and we lose sight of the overall picture. We forget how truly astounding the experiments we are able to undertake are, using the universe as our lab. I feel very privileged to have been able to do this as part of the work that led to this dissertation.