Abstract
There is a synergistic relationship between analog field testing and the deep space telecommunication capabilities necessary for future human exploration. The BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains) research project developed and implemented a telecommunications architecture that serves as a high-fidelity analog of future telecommunication capabilities for Mars. This paper presents the architecture and its constituent elements. The rationale for the various protocols and radio frequency (RF) link types required to enable an interdisciplinary field mission are discussed, and the performance results from the BASALT field tests are provided. Extravehicular Informatics Backpacks (EVIB) designed for BASALT and tested by human subjects are also discussed, and the proceeding sections show how these prototype extravehicular activity (EVA) information systems can augment future human exploration. The paper concludes with an aggregate analysis of the data product types and data volumes generated, transferred, and utilized by the ground team and explorers over the course of the field deployments.
Highlights
The BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains) research program includes a unique mix of scientists, engineers, and experts from both human spaceflight mission operations and deep space robotic exploration, working together to meet a variety of research objectives
The rationale for the various protocols and radio frequency (RF) link types required to enable an interdisciplinary field mission are discussed, and the performance results from the BASALT field tests are provided
The simulation infrastructure included a telecommunication architecture that supported data relay and exchange with various members of the flight team, and included components such as a backpack equipped with a modern suite of candidate extravehicular activity (EVA) informatics systems, as well as scientific hand tools for Mars surface exploration (Fig. 1)
Summary
The BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains) research program includes a unique mix of scientists, engineers, and experts from both human spaceflight mission operations and deep space robotic exploration, working together to meet a variety of research objectives. The In-Field (in the field) scientific activities of the BASALT program were performed In-Sim (in simulation) (Lim et al, 2019), that is, under simulated Mars mission conditions, which included Mars-to-Earth telecommunication latencies and bandwidth limitations. The network performance data collected during BASALT field test operations provides a flightlike representation of the communications utilization of martian scientific EVA operations. These data were comprised of bandwidth measurements of all BASALT field elements (extravehicular [EV] and intravehicular [IV] crew member communications, Extravehicular Informatics Backpacks [EVIB], and science instruments) throughout the telecommunications infrastructure
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