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The Case for Deep Space Telecommunications Relay StationsEach future mission to Jupiter and beyond must carry the traditional suite of telecommunications systems for command and control and for mission data transmission to earth. The telecommunications hardware includes the large antenna and the high-power transmitters that enable the communications link. Yet future spacecraft will be scaled down from the hallmark missions of Galileo and Cassini to Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. This implies that a higher percentage of the spacecraft weight and power must be dedicated to telecommunications system. The following analysis quantifies this impact to future missions and then explores the merits of an alternative approach using deep space relay stations for the link back to earth. It will be demonstrated that a telecommunications relay satellite would reduce S/C telecommunications weight and power sufficiently to add one to two more instruments.
Document ID
20040066071
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Chandler, Charles W.
(University of South Florida Tampa, FL, United States)
Miranda, Felix A.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 2004
Subject Category
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking
Report/Patent Number
E-14489
NASA/CR-2004-213053
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGT3-52395
WBS: WBS-22-322-20-06
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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