SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The Tidbinbilla interferometer, designed specifically to provide accurate radio position measurements of compact radio sources in the Southern Hemisphere with high sensitivity using the 26 m and 64 m antennas of the Deep Space Network at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra, is discussed. The instrument also provides high accuracy flux density measurements for compact radio sources.
The Tidbinbilla interferometer (Batty et al., 1977) is designed specifically to provide accurate radio position measurements of compact radio sources in the Southern Hemisphere with high sensitivity. The interferometer uses the 26-m and 64-m antennas of the Deep Space Network at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra. The two antennas are separated by 200 m on a north-south baseline. By utilizing the existing antennas and the low-noise traveling-wave masers at 2.29 GHz, it has been possible to produce a high-sensitivity instrument with a minimum of capital expenditure. The north-south baseline ensures that a good range of UV coverage is obtained, so that sources lying in the declination range between about -80 and +30 deg may be observed with nearly orthogonal projected baselines of no less than about 1000 lambda. The instrument also provides high-accuracy flux density measurements for compact radio sources.
The performance characteristics are discussed of certain algebraic geometric codes. Algebraic geometric codes have good minimum distance properties. On many channels they outperform other comparable block codes; therefore, one would expect them eventually to replace some of the block codes used in communications systems. It is suggested that it is unlikely that they will become useful substitutes for the Reed-Solomon codes used by the Deep Space Network in the near future. However, they may be applicable to systems where the signal to noise ratio is sufficiently high so that block codes would be more suitable than convolutional or concatenated codes.
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, launched on November 7, 1996, carries an experimental space-to-ground telecommunications link at Ka-band (32 GHz) along with the primary X-band (8.4 GHz) downlink. The signals are simultaneously transmitted from a 1.5-in diameter parabolic high gain antenna (HGA) on MGS and received by a beam-waveguide (BWG) R&D 34-meter antenna located in NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Network (DSN) complex near Barstow, California. The projected 5-dB link advantage of Ka-band relative to X-band was confirmed in previous reports using measurements of MGS signal strength data acquired during the first two years of the link experiment from December 1996 to December 1998. Analysis of X-band and Ka-band frequency data and difference frequency (f(sub x)-f(sub ka)/3.8) data will be presented here. On board the spacecraft, a low-power sample of the X-band downlink from the transponder is upconverted to 32 GHz, the Ka-band frequency, amplified to I-W using a Solid State Power Amplifier, and radiated from the dual X/Ka HGA. The X-band signal is amplified by one of two 25 W TWTAs. An upconverter first downconverts the 8.42 GHz X-band signal to 8 GHz and then multiplies using a X4 multiplier producing the 32 GHz Ka-band frequency. The frequency source selection is performed by an RF switch which can be commanded to select a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) or USO (Ultra-Stable Oscillator) reference. The Ka-band frequency can be either coherent with the X-band downlink reference or a hybrid combination of the USO and VCO derived frequencies. The data in this study were chosen such that the Ka-band signal is purely coherent with the X-band signal, that is the downconverter is driven by the same frequency source as the X-band downlink). The ground station used to acquire the data is DSS-13, a 34-meter BWG antenna which incorporates a series of mirrors inside beam waveguide tubes which guide the energy to a subterranean pedestal room, providing a stable environment for the feed and electronics equipment. A dichroic plate is used to reflect the X-band energy and pass the Ka-band energy to another mirror. The RF energy for each band is then focused onto a feed horn and low-noise amplifier package. After amplification and RF/IF downconversion, the IF signals are sent to the Experimental Tone Tracker (ETT), a digital phase-lock-loop receiver, which simultaneously tracks both X-band and Ka-band carrier signals. Once a signal is detected, the ETT outputs estimates of the SNR in a I -Hz bandwidth (Pc/No), baseband phase and frequency of the signals every I -sec. Between December 1996 and December 1998, the Ka-band and X-band signals from MGS were tracked on a regular basis using the ETT. The Ka-band downlink frequencies described here were referenced to the spacecraft's on-board USO which was also the X-band frequency reference (f(sub ka)= 3.8 f(sub x)). The ETT estimates of baseband phase at I -second sampled time tags were converted to sky frequency estimates. Frequency residuals were then generated for each band by removing a model frequency from each observable frequency at each time tag. The model included Doppler and other effects derived from spacecraft trajectory files obtained from the MGS Navigation Team. A simple troposphere correction was applied to the data. In addition to residuals, the USO frequencies emitted by the spacecraft were estimated. For several passes, the USO frequencies were determined from X-band data and from Ka-band data (referred to X-band by dividing by 3.8) and were found to be in good agreement. In addition, X-band USO frequency estimates from MGS Radio Science data acquired from operational DSN stations were available for comparison and were found to agree within the I Hz level. The remaining sub-Hertz differences were attributed to the different models and software algorithms used by MGS Radio Science and KaBLE-11. A summary of the results of a linear fit of the USO frequency versus time (day of year) is presented in Table I for an initial segment of passes.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is currently developing the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) as a Path to the Next Generation Near Earth Space Communication Network. The current NASA Space Network or Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is comprised of a constellation of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) in geosynchronous orbit and associated ground stations and operation centers. NASA is currently targeting a next generation of relay capability on orbit in the 2025 timeframe.
We introduce a trilateration scheme that evaluates the 3-dimensional (3-D) relative position between a reference spacecraft and a target spacecraft using raw-range measurements from a distance baseline of known locations, which we call “anchors”. The anchors can be antennas of a ground-based network (e.g., Deep Space Network (DSN) or Near Earth Network (NEN) stations), or satellites of a spacebased network (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) or tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS)). We define raw-range as the range that includes all the systematic errors that occur during range measurements. A unique feature of this approach is that accurate relative position is derived from a “differencing function” of raw-range measurements of the reference spacecraft and target spacecraft, thereby eliminating most of the systematic errors, such as media effects, ephemeris errors, instrument delays, clock bias, etc. There can be an arbitrary number of target spacecraft, and relative positioning of target spacecraft with respect to the reference spacecraft can be done simultaneously. In this paper, we first assume an idealized system in which clocks on the reference and target spacecraft are synchronized, with clocks of the anchors synchronized as well. We develop a novel iterative algorithm that computes the relative position of the target spacecraft with respect to the reference spacecraft. We illustrate the relative positioning method using the scenario of a network of three ground stations (i.e., the anchors) at Goldstone, California, USA, Madrid, Spain, and Marlargue, Argentina tracking two spacecraft at geosynchronous orbit distance. We demonstrate that the algorithm converges to submeter accuracy in estimating the relative position, in the presence of random errors and systematic errors in raw-range measurements, and in the presence of angular errors in estimating the pointing vectors between the anchors and the reference spacecraft. Next, we relax the requirement of perfect time synchronization between spacecraft, and show that by using an additional anchor, one can estimate and remove the clock biases between the reference and target spacecraft. We add a ground station at Kourou to the above example of three ground stations of Goldstone, Madrid, and Marlargue, and demonstrate that the updated algorithm also converges to meter-level accuracy (submeter in some cases) in the presence of clock biases in addition to the random errors, systematic errors, and angular errors as shown in the above case. We compare this scheme with a similar trilateration scheme for relative positioning scheme first proposed by Montenbruck in 2002.
Critical to NASA s rapid migration toward Ka-Band is the comprehensive characterization of the communication channels at NASA's ground sites to determine the effects of the atmosphere on signal propagation and the network's ability to support various classes of users in different orbits. Accordingly, NASA has initiated a number of studies involving the ground sites of its Near Earth and Deep Space Networks. Recently, NASA concluded a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Norwegian Space Centre of the Kingdom of Norway and began a joint site characterization study to determine the atmospheric effects on Ka-Band links at the Svalbard Satellite Station in Norway, which remains a critical component of NASA s Near Earth Communication Network (NEN). System planning and design for Ka-band links at the Svalbard site cannot be optimally achieved unless measured attenuation statistics (e.g. cumulative distribution functions (CDF)) are obtained. In general, the CDF will determine the necessary system margin and overall system availability due to the atmospheric effects. To statistically characterize the attenuation statistics at the Svalbard site, NASA has constructed a ground-based monitoring station consisting of a multi-channel total power radiometer (25.5 - 26.5 GHz) and a weather monitoring station to continuously measure (at 1 second intervals) attenuation and excess noise (brightness temperature). These instruments have been tested in a laboratory environment as well as in an analogous outdoor climate (i.e. winter in Northeast Ohio), and the station was deployed in Svalbard, Norway in May 2011. The measurement campaign is planned to last a minimum of 3 years but not exceeding a maximum of 5 years.
Traditional NASA missions, both near Earth and deep space, have been stovepipe in nature and point-to-point in architecture. Recently, NASA and others have conceptualized missions that required space-based networking. The notion of networks in space is a drastic shift in thinking and requires entirely new architectures, radio systems (antennas, modems, and media access), and possibly even new protocols. A full system engineering approach for some key mission architectures will occur that considers issues such as the science being performed, stationkeeping, antenna size, contact time, data rates, radio-link power requirements, media access techniques, and appropriate networking and transport protocols. This report highlights preliminary architecture concepts and key technologies that will be investigated.
In the near future, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will returnhumansto the moon beginning the next era of human exploration. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program will play a vital role in establishing communications and navigation support to realize the ambitious goals of the Artemis program. SCaN’s overall lunar communications support plan will be covered in a separate 2023 SpaceOps paper: “NASA’s Communications and Navigation Architecture Plans to Support the Return to the Moon and a Sustainable Lunar Presence.” The four-point plan,as it currently stands, includes lunar relay services, a dedicated set of new ground stations, international partner contributions,and supportthrough the Deep Space Network (DSN)and associated upgrades. This paper will have a more granular focus on the DSN and NASA’s plans to upgrade and expand the network to be better suited for human spaceflight on and around the lunar surface. NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) will be a critical communications component for the upcoming lunar activities. There will be multiple spacecraft, using different bands, and some of those spacecraft will be transmitting and receiving using multiple bands, requiring DSN support of S-band (2 GHz), X-band (7 GHz up, 8 GHz down), and K-band (22.5 GHz up, 26 GHz down). Since there may be more than one spacecraft in the beamwidth of the DSN antennas, the DSN support will require an extension of the DSN’s capability to support multiple spacecraft using one antenna, expanding it to provide two simultaneous uplinks in the different bands at each antenna. Achieving this requires using new techniques for manufacturing the frequency selective surfaces, called dichroics, which steer the different frequency beams from and to the appropriate transmitting and receiving equipment, along with the addition of a new K-band uplink system. Additionally, due to the relative closeness of the moon from Earth (as opposed to the planetary missionsthe DSN supports daily), significantly higher data rates on both uplink and downlinkare requiredare possible and desirable by the lunar missions, specifically up to 20 Mbps on the uplink and 150 Mbps on the downlink, both using Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) error correcting codes. And, again due to the relative closeness of the moon, there is a need for low latency data delivery of the high rate downlink telemetry which requires a change in the current DSN paradigm of delivering higher rate data with higher latency.
In the near future, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will return to the moon beginning the next era of human exploration. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program will play a vital role in establishing communications and navigation support to realize the ambitious goals of the Artemis program. SCaN’s overall lunar communications support plan will be covered in a separate 2023 SpaceOps paper: “NASA’s Communications and Navigation Architecture Plans to Support the Return to the Moon and a Sustainable Lunar Presence”. The plan as it currently stands, includes a three-fold approach of lunar relay services, a dedicated set of new ground stations and support through the Deep Space Network (DSN). This paper will have a more granular focus on the DSN and NASA’s plans to upgrade and expand the network to be better suited for human spaceflight on and around the lunar surface. NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) will be a critical communications component for the upcoming lunar activities. There will be multiple spacecraft, using different bands, and some of those spacecraft will be transmitting and receiving using multiple bands, requiring DSN support of S-band (2 GHz), X-band (7 GHz up, 8 GHz down), and K-band (22.5 GHz up, 26 GHz down). Since there may be more than one spacecraft in the beamwidth of the DSN antennas, the DSN support will require an extension of the DSN’s capability to support multiple spacecraft using one antenna, expanding it to provide two simultaneous uplinks in the different bands at each antenna. Achieving this requires using new techniques for manufacturing the frequency selective surfaces, called dichroics, which steer the different frequency beams from and to the appropriate transmitting and receiving equipment, along with the addition of a new K-band uplink system. Additionally, due to the relative closeness of the moon from Earth (as opposed to the planetary missions the DSN supports daily), significantly higher data rates on both uplink and downlink are required, specifically up to 20 Mbps on the uplink and 150 Mbps on the downlink, both using Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) error correcting codes. And, again due to the relative closeness of the moon, there is a need for low latency data delivery of the high rate downlink telemetry which requires a change in the current DSN paradigm of delivering higher rate data with higher latency.
The NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program is responsible for providing communication and navigation services to scientific and human space exploration missions. SCaN's current Space Network provides radio frequency (RF) relay services to near Earth space missions via Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS). SCaN plans to offer a new generation of relay services beginning in 2025, including the addition of optical communications capabilities and enhanced RF capabilities. The primary drivers behind the development of these next generation relay network services are to enhance communication and navigation services with significantly reduced development and operational costs. Several approaches being considered for implementation of these services are through government owned capabilities, through commercial service providers, or a combination of the two. One approach receiving a great deal of attention is the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to develop and provide capabilities or services. Utilizing Public-Private Partnerships allows NASA and commercial entities to share the investment, standards, and risks of developing and testing new or enhanced capabilities which can benefit both NASA and the commercial space communication industry. The capabilities developed under the PPP can then be used to support the growth of the commercial satellite communications industry while simultaneously being introduced into NASA operations to provide service to future NASA missions as part of the NASA Next Generation Architecture. Partnerships formed for this purpose can also serve as the basis for further NASA acquisition activities where government and industry can continue to share the cost, risk, and benefits of space communications capability development and operations. This objective is consistent with the 2010 National Space Policy stated principles: "The United States is committed to encouraging and facilitating the growth of a U.S. commercial space sector that supports U.S. needs, is globally competitive, and advances U.S. leadership in the generation of new markets and innovation-driven entrepreneurship." [1]NASA has conducted several internal studies as well as externally funded studies with industry to define the next generation space communication architecture. NASA has approached the commercial industry through a Request for Information (RFI) to define further the next generation architecture and has conducted numerous internal and external studies. The results are promising and are shaping the approach to utilize Public Private Partnership to achieve NASA's objectives while reducing costs. The commercial satellite industry has begun to deploy high performance, high throughput global satellite constellations which have the potential to provide communication services to NASA Missions. Commercial satellite manufacturers have advanced their processes to rapidly design, build, and deliver, reliable communication satellites using minimum government oversight. In this paper, we will 1) describe the NASA Next Generation Architecture, Concept of Operations (ConOps), and salient characteristics; 2) Discuss the rational of Public-Private Partnerships to achieve NASA’s next generation communication architecture; and 3) Summarize the preliminary analysis performed to date and describe the path forward.
In this work, we focus on the development of a simulation tool to assist in analysis of current and future (proposed) network architectures for NASA. Specifically, the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Network is being architected as an integrated set of new assets and a federation of upgraded legacy systems. The SCaN architecture for the initial missions for returning humans to the moon and beyond will include the Space Network (SN) and the Near-Earth Network (NEN). In addition to SCaN, the initial mission scenario involves a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN). We call the tool being developed the SCaN Network Integration and Engineering (SCaN NI&E) Simulator. The intended uses of such a simulator are: (1) to characterize performance of particular protocols and configurations in mission planning phases; (2) to optimize system configurations by testing a larger parameter space than may be feasible in either production networks or an emulated environment; (3) to test solutions in order to find issues/risks before committing more significant resources needed to produce real hardware or flight software systems. We describe two use cases of the tool: (1) standalone simulation of CEV to ISS baseline scenario to determine network performance, (2) participation in Distributed Simulation Integration Laboratory (DSIL) tests to perform function testing and verify interface and interoperability of geographically dispersed simulations/emulations.
A data acquisition and display system that automatically monitors the performance of the 4.5-K closed-cycle refrigerators used to cryogenically cool traveling-wave masers is described. The system displays and stores operating parameters for the purpose of providing status information, failure prediction, and analysis. A prototype of this system will be installed at Deep Space Network 12 in the near future. The advantages of using commercial data acquisition hardware with installed operating systems and BASIC programs for this application are discussed.
NASA's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project utilizes two complimentary search strategies: a sky survey and a targeted search. The SETI team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have primary responsibility to develop and carry out the sky survey part of the Microwave Observing Project. The paper describes progress that has been made to develop the major elements of the survey including a two-million channel wideband spectrum analyzer system that is being developed and constructed by JPL for the Deep Space Network. The new system will be a multiuser instrument that will serve as a prototype for the SETI Sky Survey processor. This system will be used to test the signal detection and observational strategies on deep-space network antennas in the near future.
A value added analysis for the Reliability. Availability and Maintainability of McMurdo Ground Station was developed, which will be a useful tool for system managers in sparing, maintenance planning and determining vital performance metrics needed for readiness assessment of the upgrades to the McMurdo System. Output of this study can also be used as inputs and recommendations for the application of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) for the system. ReliaSoft's BlockSim. a commercial Reliability Analysis software package, has been used to model the availability of the system upgrade to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Near Earth Network (NEN) Ground Station at McMurdo Station in the Antarctica. The logistics challenges due to the closure of access to McMurdo Station during the Antarctic winter was modeled using a weighted composite of four Weibull distributions. one of the possible choices for statistical distributions throughout the software program and usually used to account for failure rates of components supplied by different manufacturers. The inaccessibility of the antenna site on a hill outside McMurdo Station throughout one year due to severe weather was modeled with a Weibull distribution for the repair crew availability. The Weibull distribution is based on an analysis of the available weather data for the antenna site for 2007 in combination with the rules for travel restrictions due to severe weather imposed by the administrating agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF). The simulations resulted in an upper bound for the system availability and allowed for identification of components that would improve availability based on a higher on-site spare count than initially planned.
SHARP (Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Program) is a knowledge-based consultant for diagnosing problems in NASA'a Deep Space Network (DSN) telecommunications link in near real-time...This paper describes the most recent version, which is an operational system used by spacecraft mission contollers; previous versions are described elsewhere...
Photonic quantum communication enables secure and high-fidelity information transfer beyond classical limits, with direct relevance to emerging quantum networks operating in free-space environments. While physical-layer models of depolarizing noise, Gamma–Gamma turbulence statistics, entanglement swapping, and decoy-state QKD security bounds are individually well established, prior work typically treats these components in isolation or under fixed network assumptions. In this work, we develop a unified topology-aware analytical framework that simultaneously integrates free-space optical link budgets, turbulence-induced visibility degradation, depolarizing qubit noise, multi-hop entanglement cascade dynamics, teleportation fidelity thresholds, CHSH nonlocality certification, and asymptotic decoy-state secret key rate bounds across star, mesh, and ring graph structures. Rather than introducing new physical channel models, we demonstrate that identical physical links exhibit fundamentally different end-to-end performance once embedded within different network topologies. Mesh architectures minimize visibility cascade through hop-count reduction but incur quadratic hardware scaling. Star topologies minimize link count but concentrate noise and synchronization overhead at the hub. Ring configurations offer linear hardware scaling with multiplicative fidelity degradation. The results establish topology as a first-order design parameter in near-term free-space quantum networks operating without full quantum repeater infrastructures. While motivated by distributed multi-agent architectures, the framework applies broadly to terrestrial, airborne, and satellite-assisted photonic quantum communication systems.
The NASA/GSFC Network Control Center (NCC) provides communication services between ground facilities and spacecraft missions in near-earth orbit that use the Space Network. The NCC Data System (NCCDS) provides computational support and is expected to be highly utilized by the service requests needed in the future years. A performance model of the NCCDS has been developed to assess the future workload and possible enhancements. The model computes message volumes from mission request profiles and SN resource levels and generates the loads for NCCDS configurations as a function of operational scenarios and processing activities. The model has been calibrated using the results of benchmarks performed on the operational NCCDS facility and used to assess some future SN service request scenarios.