Link design and planning for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Ka-band (32 GHz) telecom demonstration

Abstract

NASA is planning a Ka-band (32 GHz) engineering telemetry demonstration with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Capabilities of Ka-band for use with deep space mission are demonstrated using the link optimization algorithms and weather forecasting. Furthermore, based on the performance of previous deep space missions with Ka-band downlink capabilities, experiment plans are developed for telemetry operations during superior solar conjunction. A general overview of the demonstration is given followed by a description of the experiment planning during cruise, the primary science mission and superior conjunction. As part of the primary science mission planning the expected data return for various data optimization methods is calculated. These results indicate that, given MRO's data rates, a link optimized to use of at most two data rates, subject to a minimum availability of 90%, performs almost as well as a link with no limits on the number of data rates with the same minimum availability requirement. Furthermore, the effects of forecasting on these link design algorithms are discussed