Space networking and protocols for planetary exploration and analog planetary sites

Abstract

System flexibility and simplicity must be maximized for future human and robotic missions to Mars and other planets. A network deployed on the surface of another planet must interoperate with a space-based communication link and/or network, as well as the Earth-side networking segment. The operation of the space-based segment should be simple, but should be able to respond to environmental and system variations causing varying degradation of the link quality. An ongoing study into space and regional communication issues is taking place in the Canadian Arctic, at a prime Mars analog research field site. Preliminary results are demonstrating the needs for simplified operation of the space-based component, and a need to respond to ionospheric and tropospheric propagation variations. Such variations require fine control of the space-based segment, but also require network protocols and operational protocols that can maximize the science and other data uplink and downlink capacity of the complete integrated network system at any given moment of time.