Deep space communications

Reading Time: 3 minutes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Deep_Space_Networkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Deep_Space_Network

Nowadays space exploration is a very important aspect of our development. Therefore, space communication is vital in obtaining all the possible results in this sphere. Space communication was developed to send commands from the Earth to the spacecraft, and to return scientific data from the spacecraft to the Earth. Deep space missions almost never return back, that is why it is very important to track spacecrafts at a very long distance and communications systems is the only means with which to interact with it and moreover to diagnose, repair and mitigate it. A successful mission can not be possible without an effective and efficient communications system.
There are two main challenges to deep space communication systems. The first is enormous distance to which a spacecraft travel. The two Voyager spacecraft, for example, are each more than 15 billion kilometers away from the Earth. Another big challenge is to maintain the extreme reliability and versatility of communication systems, in order to accommodate the long system lifetimes of most planetary missions.
Only in March 2016 the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) had returned more than 298 terabits of data – very impressive feat. Even at its maximum data rate of 5.2 megabits per second (Mbps), MRO requires 7.5 hours to empty its onboard recorder, and 1.5 hours to send a single HiRISE image to be processed back on Earth. And now even higher data rates are needed for high-resolution hyperspectral imagers.
There are 3 Deep Space Networks (DSN) locations (Madrid, Goldstone, Canberra), that consist of antenna complexes. Each complex includes one 70-meter antenna and a number of 34-meter antennas, which can be used ether individually or in combination to meet each space mission’s communications requirements. Deep space communications research facilities include a 34-meter research, development antenna and the Optical Communications Telecommunications Laboratory with a 1-meter telescope.


The antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to:[2] acquire telemetry data from spacecraft, transmit commands to spacecraft, upload software modifications to spacecraft, track spacecraft position and velocity, perform Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations, measure variations in radio waves for radio science experiments, gather science data, monitor and control the performance of the network.
NASA cooperates with JPL. This company develops deep space communications technologies for Nasa’s spacecrafts and the Deep Space Networks. That is why new mission concepts are always being improved.

JPL develops Radio Frequency (RF) Technologies and Optical Communications. High-rate RF communications techniques are essential to meeting projected future mission requirements. Areas of its investigation include: spectral-efficient technologies, power-efficient technologies, propagation effects, antennas, both flight and ground and deployable and arraying antenna technology.
Optical communications is being developed for future space missions generating high volumes of data. It could meet these needs for future missions to near-Earth space, the Solar System, and potentially, interstellar missions. Areas of emphasis in optical communications research and development at JPL include: long-haul optical communications, optical proximity link system development, in-situ optical transceivers. These technologies can enable streaming high definition imagery and data communications over interplanetary distances.
So as you can see the process of receiving and processing data from space is rather complicated and costly (billions of dollars spent on deep space missions). But do we really need to investigate in this sphere or should we rather think about earth communication, as sometimes even the internet connection leaves much to be desired?

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Deep_Space_Network

https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/research/research-topics-list/communications-computing-software/deep-space-communications

 

 

Leave a Reply

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.