NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

[Flyaway]

Initially this would be in relation to the proposed Mars Ice Mapper mission.

NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

A constellation of commercial satellites could serve as a communications relay system for future NASA missions, such as an orbiter later this decade to search for subsurface ice there.

spacenews.com

 

[FighterJock]

Initially this would be in relation to the proposed Mars Ice Mapper mission.

NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

A constellation of commercial satellites could serve as a communications relay system for future NASA missions, such as an orbiter later this decade to search for subsurface ice there.

spacenews.com

An interesting idea Flyaway, I wonder how long it would take for a picture from either Curiosity or Perseverance to be downloaded to Mission Control on Earth from Mars using the data link relay satellites. Would it be comparable to the fastest broadband internet connections on Earth?

 

[Flyaway]

Initially this would be in relation to the proposed Mars Ice Mapper mission.

NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

A constellation of commercial satellites could serve as a communications relay system for future NASA missions, such as an orbiter later this decade to search for subsurface ice there.

spacenews.com

An interesting idea Flyaway, I wonder how long it would take for a picture from either Curiosity or Perseverance to be downloaded to Mission Control on Earth from Mars using the data link relay satellites. Would it be comparable to the fastest broadband internet connections on Earth?

I suspect you already know that they have been looking into laser communications at interplanetary distances. I am sure there has already been tests using cubesats.

 

[FighterJock]

Initially this would be in relation to the proposed Mars Ice Mapper mission.

NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

A constellation of commercial satellites could serve as a communications relay system for future NASA missions, such as an orbiter later this decade to search for subsurface ice there.

spacenews.com

An interesting idea Flyaway, I wonder how long it would take for a picture from either Curiosity or Perseverance to be downloaded to Mission Control on Earth from Mars using the data link relay satellites. Would it be comparable to the fastest broadband internet connections on Earth?

I suspect you already know that they have been looking into laser communications at interplanetary distances. I am sure there has already been tests using cubesats.

Thanks Flyaway.

 

[Flyaway]

Initially this would be in relation to the proposed Mars Ice Mapper mission.

NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites

A constellation of commercial satellites could serve as a communications relay system for future NASA missions, such as an orbiter later this decade to search for subsurface ice there.

spacenews.com

An interesting idea Flyaway, I wonder how long it would take for a picture from either Curiosity or Perseverance to be downloaded to Mission Control on Earth from Mars using the data link relay satellites. Would it be comparable to the fastest broadband internet connections on Earth?

I suspect you already know that they have been looking into laser communications at interplanetary distances. I am sure there has already been tests using cubesats.

Thanks Flyaway.

NASA Demos CubeSat Laser Communications Capability

Two tiny satellites used lasers to communicate in a spontaneous experiment.

www.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA Counts Down to Laser Communications for Mars

Red planet exploration requires telecommunication.

www.afcea.org

 

[TomcatViP]

Amazing that we might get FB and Tik Tok* on Mars before any humans settle there! [/irony]

*And SPF! A pint of hydrolyzed water on me for the first of us there browsing those pages

 

[FighterJock]

Amazing that we might get FB and Tik Tok* on Mars before any humans settle there! [/irony]

*And SPF! A pint of hydrolyzed water on me to the first of us there browsing those pages

I don't think that it will be that sort of Internet TomcatVIP (at least not yet). Instead to begin with it will be a highly controlled Intranet with only enough download speed to download data from the rovers and orbiters.

 

[Flyaway]

For more details on Mars Ice Mapper see this article.

The Space Review: The future of Mars exploration, from sample return to human missions