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The Deep Space Network

Committee on the Review of Progress toward Implementing

the Decadal Survey Vision & Voyages for Planetary Sciences

Joseph Lazio

L. Benner, A. Bhanji, A. Biswas, W. Klipstein, S. Lichten, J. Statman, S. Townes

© 2017 California Institute of Technology.

Government sponsorship acknowledged.

Deep Space Network

2Canberra Goldstone Madrid

Topics

- Deep Space

communications and

navigation

- Planetary radar

- Future planning

Voyager 1

Chandra

Planetary Sciences Vision 2050 3

Don’t Leave Earth Without Us!

Planetary Sciences-DSN Partnership

Dawn Cassini New Horizons Geotail Mars Odyssey Curiosity Opportunity MOM

Mars

Reconnaissance

OrbiterMars ExpressMAVENJUNO AkatsukiXMM Cluster

MMS STEREO Wind DSCOVR Spitzer SOHO Kepler Hayabusa-2 ACE LRO

TESS

ARTEMISMars TGO

Voyager 2

GSSR

OSIRIS REx

Solar Probe

Plus JWST BepiColumbo EuropaInSight Mars 2020

96.0%

96.5%

97.0%

97.5%

98.0%

98.5%

99.0%

99.5%

100.0%

2011

-01

2011

-03

2011

-05

2011

-07

2011

-09

2011

-11

2012

-01

2012

-03

2012

-05

2012

-07

2012

-09

2012

-11

2013

-01

2013

-03

2013

-05

2013

-07

2013

-09

2013

-11

2014

-01

2014

-03

2014

-05

2014

-07

2014

-09

2014

-11

2015

-01

2015

-03

2015

-05

2015

-07

2015

-09

2015

-11

2016

-01

2016

-03

2016

-05

2016

-07

2016

-09

2016

-11

2017

-01

2017

-03

2017

-05

DSN Network Data Delivery (Fiscal)

Network Telemetry % Network Command % Network RadioMetric % Combined % Poly. (Combined %)4

Monthly Data, Averaged over All Missions

Telemetry, Tracking, & Command: 5 Year

99%

100%

NASA requirement: 95%

Typical DSN performance > 99%

DSN Status – Planetary Sciences Decadal Mid-Term

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 20172016

• Telemetry

• Command

• RadioMetric

• Combined

97%

j p l . n a s a . g o v

DSN and Planetary Science

DSN Status – Planetary Sciences Decadal Mid-Term 5

2014: Comet Siding

Springs from MAVEN

Credit: NASA/JPL-

Caltech/University of

Arizona

2016: Jupiter

from Juno

Credit:

NASA/JPL-

Caltech/SwRI/

MSSS/Betsy

Asher

Hall/Gervasio

Robles

2015: Pluto from

New Horizons

Credit:

NASA/JHUAPL/SwR

I

2017: Saturn

from Cassini

Credit: NASA/JPL-

Caltech/Space

Science Institute


The Primitive Bodies

Planetary Radar

Earth-Based Telescopes

The Arecibo and Goldstone radar telescopes are

powerful, complementary facilities that can

characterize the surface structure and three-

dimensional shapes of the near-Earth objects within

their reach of about one-tenth of the Earth-Sun

distance. Arecibo has a sensitivity 20 times greater

than Goldstone, but Goldstone has much greater sky

coverage than Arecibo. Continued access to facilities

for the detailed study of near-Earth objects is essential

to primitive bodies studies.

National Radar Assets

Goldstone DSS-14 (DSN)70 m antenna, 500 kW transmitter, 4 cm wavelength (X band)

Arecibo (NAIC)300 m antenna, 1 MW

transmitter, 13 cm wavelength (S band)

Green Bank Telescope (GBO)100 m antenna, no transmitter

7

Goldstone Solar System Radar

DSS-14: 70 m antenna at Goldstone

Deep Space Communications

Complex

8DSN Status – Planetary Sciences Decadal Mid-Term


New klystron!




Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in

the Decade 2013-2022

“The DSN is a critical element of NASA’s solar system exploration program. It is the only asset

available for communications with missions to the outer solar system, and is heavily

subscribed by inner solar system missions as well. As instruments advance and larger data

streams are expected over the coming decade, this capability must keep pace with the needs of

the mission portfolio. Future demands on the DSN will be substantial. Missions to the distant

outer solar system requires access to either 70-meter antennas or equivalent arrays of smaller

antennae. The DSN must also be able to receive data from more than one mission at one

station simultaneously. If arrays can only mimic the ability of one 70-meter station and nothing

more, missions would still be downlink constrained and would have to compete against one

another for limited downlink resources.

“Although Ka-band downlink has a clear capacity advantage, there is a need to maintain

multiple band downlink capability. For example, three-band telemetry during outer planet

atmospheric occultations allows sounding of different pressure depths within the atmosphere.

In addition, S-band is required for communications from Venus during probe, balloon, lander,

and orbit insertion operations where other bands cannot penetrate the atmosphere. X-band

capability is required for communication through the atmosphere of Titan, and also for

emergency spacecraft communications. The committee recommends that all three DSN

complexes should maintain high power uplink capability in X and Ka-band, and downlink

capability in S, Ka, and X-bands. NASA should expand DSN capacities to meet the navigation

and communication requirements of missions recommended by this decadal survey, with

adequate margins.


2020--2021 Mars Contention Period Planning

2020--2021 New Mars Missions

with DSN Support

• NASA Mars 2020 (Rover) (EDL)

• ESA ExoMars Rover and

Surface Platform (RSP) (EDL)

• SpaceX Red Dragon lander 1

(EDL)

• SpaceX Red Dragon lander 2

(EDL)

• ISRO MOM-2 orbiter (MOI)

• UAE EMM orbiter (MOI)

New Mars missions launch in mid-2020 and arrive in early 2021

~ 8-week window

Current Mars Missions

• TGO 2016 (orbiter) – operating

• MAVEN (orbiter) – operating

• Curiosity (rover) – operating

• InSIGHT (lander) – operating

• MRO (orbiter) – likely operating

• MOM-1 (orbiter) – likely operating

• MER (rover) – possibly operating

• ODY (orbiter) – possibly operating

• MEX (orbiter) – possibly operating?

12


Preliminary Findings I

2020--2021 Mars Contention Period Planning

Deep Space Network will be supporting unprecedented

volume of missions and data at one planetary body

DSN planning for Mars and 30+ non-Mars missions

• Longer term impacts from Mars mission “surge”

persists

Does not “go away” later --- overall mission load increased

Mitigating actions also long-term strategies: in

2020s--2030s, growth in planetary, crewed missions

expected to continue …


Mitigation and Strategy I

DSN Futures

Maximize use of Multiple

Spacecraft Per Aperture

(MSPA)

– up to four at once

(downlink)

– Investigating multiple

uplink per aperture

Likely requires changes to on-

board radios

http://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

DSS-56 foundation

in Madrid


Mitigation and Strategy II

DSN Futures

DSN Aperture

Enhancement Project

– DSN identified efficiencies

to enable construction of

additional 34 m antennas

– Provides multiple mission

coverage at each Complex

Addressing Decadal

Survey recommendation

Maximize use of non-DSN large

antennas

ESA, Sardinia, JAXA, ISRO,

Morehead State

DSN Aperture Enhancement Project (through 2025)

Deep Space Network

16Canberra Goldstone Madrid

+ backend

digital signal

processing


Mitigation and Strategy III

DSN Futures

Modify maintenance

schedule to maximize DSN

availability during critical

periods

(launches, Mars arrivals)

Accelerate some

antennas, defer others

cf. change car’s oil before

embarking on long road trip

Figure from Space News, April 24, 2017

History of Downlink Performance


Eq

uiv

ale

nt

Da

ta R

ate

fro

m J

up

ite

r

1012

1010

108

106

104

102

1

10-2

10-4

10-6

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Ma

ser

64-m

An

ten

na

Imp

rove

d C

od

ing

Imp

rove

d

Sp

ace

cra

ft

Ante

nna

An

ten

na

Arr

ayin

g

1st flyby of

Mars

1st gravity assist to

visit multiple

planets: Mercury

and Venus

1st close-up

study of outer

planets

Jupiter

orbiter

Ka-B

and

Saturn orbiter

Ka-b

an

d A

rra

y

TV relayed

by satellite

1st Mini

Computer

1st Cell

Phone

IBM PC

Released

Internet

made

Public

1st Hand-Held

GPS Receiver

iPhone

Released

Discovery of

1,000th planet

1st US

Spacecraft to fly

by the Moon

History to date:

Performance has improved by 1013 so far

Projection:

Demand will continue to increase 10× per decade


DSN Future Technologies

Solid-state power amplifiers for

higher uplink rates

19

New, software-defined radios, associated

technologies

Including for smallsats

Next-generation clocks

Quantum communications?

Standards for cross-agency

support and interaction

Make upgrades to enhance future Mars

orbiter relay capabilities

… and other spacecraft


Vision for the DSN's Future

Decade 0--1: 10× Improvements over Today

Universal Space Transponder (UST)

new digital

backends

– On-board

software-defined

radios

• Universal Space

Transponder (UST)

• Iris smallsat

transponder

– On the ground

Common Platform

signal processor

On board and

ground Ka band

21

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) to be

demonstrated!

Decade 2+: 100× Improvements over Today



z

High Performance

Optical Terminal:

To be demonstrated

on Pysche

Hybrid RF/Optical

Antenna

Potential reuse of

existing infrastructure,

in development today

Dedicated 12m

Stations

NASA + International

partnerships

Decade 2+: 100× Improvement over TodayDedicated

Comm Relays

Extend the

Internet to Mars,

enabling public

engagementHuman and robotic users

100× today’s data rates

from Mars – up to 1 Gbps

22


DSOC Overview

Photon-Counting Camera

Isolation Pointing Assembly

Point-Ahead Mirror

Single strut photoflight-like electronics

FLIGHT LASER TRANSCEIVER (FLT)

Electron microscope detail of 320 µm active area tungsten

silicide (WSi) superconducting nanowire single photon

detector (SNSPD) array

Laser Transmitter

Average Power 4 W

Packaged Nanowire Array

GROUND TECHNOLOGYAluminum Optical Transceiver

Assembly

SiC Flight Laser

Transceiver

(FLT)

DSOC Technologies & Advances

Palomar Observatory/Hale Telescope 5 m


The DSN and the Interplanetary Internet



Mars

Venus Titan Icy Moon

Moon

j p l . n a s a . g o v

++

+++

++

+ +

++

+ ++

++ +

-- ---

-----

---

-

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Enabling 35+ missions

Maintaining 99% reliability

Radar contributing to planetary

science and planetary defense

Implementing strategies to continue

performance into 2020s and beyond

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