Spacecraft antenna systems Final engineering report, Oct. 1963 - Jan. 1966
Spacecraft communication system with reliable, beam-steering antenna
STEERABLE ANTENNA↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “SPACECRAFT COMMUNICATION”
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.
Deep space - Outer planet communications
RF requirements of deep space-outer planet spacecraft communications for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune flyby missions
Kermode, A. W.↗
The Communications Technology Satellite and the associated ground terminals for experiments
The CTS project is a joint effort between the Communications Research Centre in Canada and National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States with both nations equally sharing available spacecraft communication time. The CTS spacecraft will be placed in synchronous orbit at 116 deg west longitude. General spacecraft operational characteristics are discussed with particular emphasis on communication system parameters. The associated Canadian and United States user ground terminals are reviewed with particular emphasis on wideband communications. In Canada the experimenter (user) ground terminal communication equipment is government owned whereas in the United States the user terminal equipment is the responsibility of each user.
Wright, D. L.↗
The effects of interspacecraft communication time tag error on formation estimation
Formation estimation requires inter-spacecraft communication links to exchange sensor measurements and internal data.
formation flying estimation time tag error↗
S-band antenna phased array communications system
The development of an S-band antenna phased array for spacecraft to spacecraft communication is discussed. The system requirements, antenna array subsystem design, and hardware implementation are examined. It is stated that the phased array approach offers the greatest simplicity and lowest cost. The objectives of the development contract are defined as: (1) design of a medium gain active phased array S-band communications antenna, (2) development and test of a model of a seven element planar array of radiating elements mounted in the appropriate cavity matrix, and (3) development and test of a breadboard transmit/receive microelectronics module.
Delzer, D. R.↗
The Centaur family
The Centaur upper stage has been used with Atlas and Titan boosters for a total of 66 launches, and is now being considered for future use with the Space Shuttle. Centaur's high-energy oxygen-hydrogen propellant combination provides the maximum performance capability for launching geosynchronous and earth-escape missions with both boosters. Shuttle/Centaur performance, combined with the demonstrated low-thrust operating capability of the Centaur engines, will allow gentle transfer of large communications spacecraft into geostationary orbit, thus significantly increasing the economies of communication satellites. This paper presents Centaur configurations, payload capabilities, and payload envelopes for future applications.
Rector, W. F., III↗
Development of Flight Hardware for an Inflatable Deployable Antenna Experiment
Space deployable antennas are needed for a variety of applications that include space based very-long-baseline interferometry, mobile communications, active microwave sensing, earth observation radiometry, synthetic aperture radar, spacecraft communications, and DOD space-based radar. Design and development concepts discussed are low cost, reliability, low weight, packaging, precision and stability.
Space Antennas Structures Materials↗
High power microwave transmitters for deep space communications with unmanned spacecraft.
High-power microwave transmitters for deep-space communication with unmanned spacecraft
SPACE COMMUNICATION↗
Microwave communications from outer planets - The Voyager Project
The paper summarizes the Voyager Project, the mission objectives, and the spacecraft communications system required to meet the mission objectives. The primary emphasis of the mission is on comparative studies of the Jupiter and Saturn systems in the areas of: (1) the environment, atmosphere and body characteristics of the planets, and one or more of the satellites, (2) the nature of the recently discovered Jovian ring and the rings of Saturn, and (3) the interplanetary medium at increasing distances from the sun. The complexities and problems, such as power consumption, weight, and antenna pointing constraints are presented, along with a detailed description of the radio frequency and S/X-band antenna subsystems.
Brejcha, A. G.↗
Space environmental effects on the SKYNET 2B spacecraft
References are made to environmentally induced electrical anomalies which are known to occur on geosynchronous spacecraft, and in particular to those which have occurred on the SKYNET 2B communications spacecraft. Details are given of the investigation made into anomalous telemetry data received from SKYNET 2B during its first 23 months of operation. The frequency and timing of these anomalous events appear to differ from those described in earlier reports of such phenomena. Attempts are made to correlate the anomalous telemetry data with data describing the spacecraft environment. Some details are given of the spacecraft configuration and comments made on its susceptibility to anomalies of this type.
Robbins, A.↗
Prospects for the Voyager extra-planetary and interstellar mission
An advance study has been conducted to examine the trajectory characteristics of Voyager 1 and 2 as they depart from the solar system and traverse interstellar space. A survey of the extraplanetary phase, commencing with completion of the final planetary encounters and ceasing with loss of spacecraft communication, considers the trajectory aspects attendant to a heliospheric investigation and possible sensing of a trans-Neptunian massive body. An analysis of departure telecommunications capability attempts to bound the inevitable time of communication loss. A study of the interstellar phase examines closest approaches of the spacecraft to the sun's stellar neighbours. A covariance analysis is provided to illustrate the statistical effect of stellar state uncertainties on these approaches. In addition to the Voyager spacecraft, data for Pioneers 10 and 11 are provided where appropriate.
Cesarone, R. J.↗
Hilbert-Curve Fractal Antenna With Radiation- Pattern Diversity
A printed, folded, Hilbert-curve fractal microwave antenna has been designed and built to offer advantages of compactness and low mass, relative to other antennas designed for the same operating frequencies. The primary feature of the antenna is that it offers the advantage of radiation-pattern diversity without need for electrical or mechanical switching: it can radiate simultaneously in an end-fire pattern at a frequency of 2.3 GHz (which is in the S-band) and in a broadside pattern at a frequency of 16.8 GHz (which is in the Ku-band). This radiation-pattern diversity could be utilized, for example, in applications in which there were requirements for both S-band ground-to-ground communications and Ku-band ground-to-aircraft or ground-to-spacecraft communications. The lack of switching mechanisms or circuitry makes this antenna more reliable, easier, and less expensive to fabricate than it otherwise would be.
Nessel, James A.↗
A proposed spacecraft-to-earth communications link - the unified carrier approach.
Unified carrier, range tracking and communications system using phase-locked loop techniques for coherent spacecraft-to-Earth communications
PHASE LOCK↗
Entry, Descent, and Landing Communications for the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander
This paper addresses NASA's requirement on the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander to provide spacecraft communications during entry, descent, and landing on Mars to allow the identification of probable root cause should any mission failure occur. The Phoenix mission launched on 4 August 2007 and will land on 25 May 2008 on the northern plains of Mars to conduct a three-month study of the Martian environment. The paper discusses the architectural trades in designing a communications link and surveys the entry, descent, and landing communications approaches taken by previous missions. It then discusses the Phoenix-specific constraints and degrees of freedoms and presents a novel and robust implementation approach to entry, descent, and landing communications. The overall methodology and conclusions described herein can serve as a pathfinder for the entry, descent, and landing communications architecture and implementation of future Mars landed missions.
communications↗
Operational requirements and the geostationary platform
For 22 years (from ATS-1 to GOES-H) a single technology has dominated imaging from geosynchronous altitudes. In 1990, with the scheduled launch of GOES-I, a major change will occur which will in turn open the way for the Geostationary Platform. The need for improved observations of severe storms has led NOAA to a decision to replace spinning geostationary spacecraft with a three-axis-stabilized type (non-spinning) vehicle already common among communications spacecraft and demonstrated by INSAT. Also, the current spin-scan imager with sounder channels will be replaced by separate instruments capable of independent aiming. The advantages and challenges of the changes are discussed.
Sparkman, James K., Jr.↗
Considerations and Architectures for Inter-Satellite Communications in Distributed Spacecraft Systems
This paper will identify the important characteristics and requirements necessary for inter-satellite communications in distributed spacecraft systems and present analysis results focusing on architectural and protocol comparisons. Emerging spacecraft systems plan to deploy multiple satellites in various "distributed" configurations ranging from close proximity formation flying to widely separated constellations. Distributed spacecraft configurations provide advantages for science exploration and operations since many activities useful for missions may be better served by distributing them between spacecraft. For example, many scientific observations can be enhanced through spatially separated platforms, such as for deep space interferometry. operating multiple distributed spacecraft as a mission requires coordination that may be best provided through inter-satellite communications. For example, several future distributed spacecraft systems envision autonomous operations requiring relative navigational calculations and coordinated attitude and position corrections. To conduct these operations, data must be exchanged between spacecraft. Direct cross-links between satellites provides an efficient and practical method for transferring data and commands. Unlike existing "bent-pipe" relay networks supporting space missions, no standard or widely-used method exists for cross-link communications. Consequently, to support these future missions, the characteristics necessary for inter-satellite communications need to be examined. At first glance, all of the missions look extremely different. Some missions call for tens to hundreds of nano-satellites in constant communications in close proximity to each other. Other missions call for a handful of satellites communicating very slowly over thousands to hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The paper will first classify distributed spacecraft missions to help guide the evaluation and definition of cross-link architectures and approaches. Based on this general classification, the paper will examine general physical layer parameters, such as frequency bands and data rates, necessary to support the missions. The paper will also identify classes of communication architectures that may be employed, ranging from fully distributed to centralized topologies. Numerous factors, such as number of spacecraft, must be evaluated when attempting to pick a communications architecture. Also important is the stability of the formation from a communications standpoint. For example, do all of the spacecraft require equal bandwidth and are spacecraft allowed to enter and leave a formation? The type of science mission being attempted may also heavily influence the communications architecture. In addition, the paper will assess various parameters and characteristics typically associated with the data link layer. The paper will analyze the performance of various multiple access techniques given the operational scenario, requirements, and communication topologies envisioned for missions. This assessment will also include a survey of existing standards and their applicability for distributed spacecraft systems. An important consideration includes the interoperability of the lower layers (physical and data link) examined in this paper with the higher layer protocols(network) envisioned for future space internetworking. Finally, the paper will define a suggested path, including preliminary recommendations, for defining and developing a standard for intersatellite communications based on the classes of distributed spacecraft missions and analysis results.
Edwards, Bernard↗
NASA Tech Briefs, June 2008
Topics covered include: Charge-Control Unit for Testing Lithium-Ion Cells; Measuring Positions of Objects Using Two or More Cameras; Lidar System for Airborne Measurement of Clouds and Aerosols; Radiation-Insensitive Inverse Majority Gates; Reduced-Order Kalman Filtering for Processing Relative Measurements; Spaceborne Processor Array; Instrumentation System Diagnoses a Thermocouple; Chromatic Modulator for a High-Resolution CCD or APS; Commercial Product Activation Using RFID; Cup Cylindrical Waveguide Antenna; Aerobraking Maneuver (ABM) Report Generator; ABM Drag_Pass Report Generator; Transformation of OODT CAS to Perform Larger Tasks; Visualization Component of Vehicle Health Decision Support System; Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Uplink Analysis Tool; Problem Reporting System; G-Guidance Interface Design for Small Body Mission Simulation; DSN Scheduling Engine; Replacement Sequence of Events Generator; Force-Control Algorithm for Surface Sampling; Tool for Merging Proposals Into DSN Schedules; Micromachined Slits for Imaging Spectrometers; Fabricating Nanodots Using Lift-Off of a Nanopore Template; Making Complex Electrically Conductive Patterns on Cloth; Special Polymer/Carbon Composite Films for Detecting SO2; Nickel-Based Superalloy Resists Embrittlement by Hydrogen; Chemical Passivation of Li+-Conducting Solid Electrolytes; Organic/Inorganic Polymeric Composites for Heat-Transfer Reduction; Composite Cathodes for Dual-Rate Li-Ion Batteries; Improved Descent-Rate Limiting Mechanism; Alignment-Insensitive Lower-Cost Telescope Architecture; Micro-Resistojet for Small Satellites; Using Piezoelectric Devices to Transmit Power through Walls; Miniature Latching Valve; Apparatus for Sampling Surface Contamination; Novel Species of Non-Spore-Forming Bacteria; Chamber for Aerosol Deposition of Bioparticles; Hyperspectral Sun Photometer for Atmospheric Characterization and Vicarious Calibrations; Dynamic Stability and Gravitational Balancing of Multiple Extended Bodies; Simulation of Stochastic Processes by Coupled ODE-PDE; Cluster Inter-Spacecraft Communications; Genetic Algorithm Optimizes Q-LAW Control Parameters; Low-Impact Mating System for Docking Spacecraft; Non-Destructive Evaluation of Materials via Ultraviolet Spectroscopy; Gold-on-Polymer-Based Sensing Films for Detection of Organic and Inorganic Analytes in the Air; and Quantum-Inspired Maximizer.
Source record↗
Solar Probe Plus MAG Sensor Thermal Design for Low Heater Power and Extreme Thermal Environment
The heater power available for the Solar Probe Plus FIELDS MAG sensor is less than half of the heritage value for other missions. Nominally the MAG sensors are in the spacecraft's umbra. In the worst hot case, approximately 200 spacecraft communication downlinks, up to 10 hours each, are required at 0.7 AU. These downlinks require the spacecraft to slew 45 deg. about the Y-axis, exposing the MAG sensors and boom to sunlight. This paper presents the thermal design to meet the MAG sensor thermal requirements in the extreme thermal environment and with low heater power. A thermal balance test on the MAG sensor engineering model has verified the thermal design and correlated the thermal model for flight temperature predictions.
Thermal design↗