October 7, 2010 at 15:37Fast interplanetary communication
In connection with the preparation of the expedition to Mars, which, according to some estimates, can start in 2035, many of its technical aspects of the technical, social and other aspects of the expedition are now being worked out.
Some of the problems have already been solved, but many are still being sought. These include the Earth-Mars-Earth communication problem. Back in 2009, NASA intended to solve this problem using a laser communication channel, but no final decision was made.
According to scientists, for an expedition to Mars, this may be one of the options for communication with the Earth.
However, the ESA and other aerospace agencies plan to launch a series of vehicles to the outer planets of the solar system. For such large distances, the organization of the laser communication channel will be difficult.
The problem of data transmission via radio waves is the strong attenuation of the radio signal at such a distance. So that terrestrial antennas can disassemble it, it is necessary to reduce the channel capacity up to 1 gigabyte per day (about 12 Kb / s).
For example, a full high-resolution map of Europe or Titan, using modern technology, would weigh 10-20 terabytes. Transferring it from a probe to the Earth via a radio channel will take about 50 years.
As an alternative to this method of information exchange, Thales Alenia Space suggests using data clippers to transfer large amounts of information from the outer planets of the solar system.
Thales Alenia Space has proposed to createsolar sailboats following the example of the sensational Japanese probe IKAROS, which will cruise between Mars and the earth (or other planets of the solar system) and transfer information in their memory. Having approached the probe of the planet under study, such a clipper could quickly download data via the laser channel.
If we imagine the same situation with the study of Europe and Titan, then it would take three years for the clipper to get closer to the Earth at a distance sufficient to exchange information on the laser beam. From a distance of several tens of thousands of kilometers, a clipper using laser communication could load all the data at a speed of about 1 gigabyte per second in 3-5 hours. Save time - 47 years. The increase in costs is 100-200 million euros for a “solar sailboat” 150 x 150 meters. You can design and build a data clipper in 20 years.
The same solar sailboat, as it revolves around the Sun, could adjust its trajectory to visit different outer planets and serve different scientific missions.
I wonder why the idea of installing 2-3 such clippers for use as laser signal repeaters is not considered. I did not find the answer to this question.
Some of the problems have already been solved, but many are still being sought. These include the Earth-Mars-Earth communication problem. Back in 2009, NASA intended to solve this problem using a laser communication channel, but no final decision was made.
According to scientists, for an expedition to Mars, this may be one of the options for communication with the Earth.
However, the ESA and other aerospace agencies plan to launch a series of vehicles to the outer planets of the solar system. For such large distances, the organization of the laser communication channel will be difficult.
The problem of data transmission via radio waves is the strong attenuation of the radio signal at such a distance. So that terrestrial antennas can disassemble it, it is necessary to reduce the channel capacity up to 1 gigabyte per day (about 12 Kb / s).
For example, a full high-resolution map of Europe or Titan, using modern technology, would weigh 10-20 terabytes. Transferring it from a probe to the Earth via a radio channel will take about 50 years.
As an alternative to this method of information exchange, Thales Alenia Space suggests using data clippers to transfer large amounts of information from the outer planets of the solar system.
Thales Alenia Space has proposed to createsolar sailboats following the example of the sensational Japanese probe IKAROS, which will cruise between Mars and the earth (or other planets of the solar system) and transfer information in their memory. Having approached the probe of the planet under study, such a clipper could quickly download data via the laser channel.
If we imagine the same situation with the study of Europe and Titan, then it would take three years for the clipper to get closer to the Earth at a distance sufficient to exchange information on the laser beam. From a distance of several tens of thousands of kilometers, a clipper using laser communication could load all the data at a speed of about 1 gigabyte per second in 3-5 hours. Save time - 47 years. The increase in costs is 100-200 million euros for a “solar sailboat” 150 x 150 meters. You can design and build a data clipper in 20 years.
The same solar sailboat, as it revolves around the Sun, could adjust its trajectory to visit different outer planets and serve different scientific missions.
I wonder why the idea of installing 2-3 such clippers for use as laser signal repeaters is not considered. I did not find the answer to this question.