Communication Architecture and Technologies for Missions to Moon, Mars, and Beyond

Abstract

This paper proposes communication architecture to support data and command communication for future space missions to moon, Mars and beyond. It postulates a set of satellites placed in halo orbits at Earth-Moon, Sun-Earth and Sun-Mars Lagrangian points and a couple of relay satellites in a heliocentric earth orbit as the base of this architecture. This arrangement is robust to loss of service problems because of the redundancy built into the system. Also, the system significantly reduces the distances over which communication has to be achieved and thus lessens the demands on the communication hardware to be employed. This also results in power saving. The architecture is scalable and can be extended to missions farther out into space. As in the development of any infrastructure, some initial investment has to be made which however will provide returns in the form of simplifying communication procedures and protocols for the many space missions to come.