| Acronym | Meaning |
| TAU | Thousand Astronomical Unit |
| VPF | Vertical Processing Facility |
| JILA | Joint Institute For Laboratory Astrophysics |
| SPARTAN | Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool For Astronomy |
| ENSO | El Nino/Southern Oscillation |
| GGM | Goskogidromet/Gidromettsentr |
| ERS | Earth Resources Satellite |
| DSN | Deep Space Network |
| RMS | Remote Manipulator System |
| CR | Correlation Radiometer |