"Key infrastructure technologies for sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars"

Key infrastructure technologies for sustained human exploration of the

Moon and Mars

Marco Lisi European Space Agency

Summary

• The exploration of Moon and Mars with human and robotic missions and their colonization, through the establishment of permanent bases, will require planetary communications and navigation infrastructures;

• All architectural approaches considered so far by NASA and ESA can be divided in two main categories: – Comprehensive, well structured and forward looking (but costly)

architectures, based on constellations of orbiters and relay satellites – “ad hoc”, flexible, expandable architectures, based on a fusion of all

available resources and on COTS technologies

• A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) business model can be envisioned, with national space agencies sharing investment costs with major commercial players (Apple, IBM, Google, AT&T, etc).

19/02/2015 M. Lisi - Space Horizons 2015 2

Outline

• Can we use GNSSs beyond Earth Orbit and on the Moon? • A review of NASA and ESA proposed system architectures for

communications and navigation infrastructures on Moon and Mars;

• An integrated, commercially-oriented approach to the problem;

• Space is not new to commercialization and sponsorships; • A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) business model for the

exploration of Moon and Mars; • Conclusions


Can we use GNSS (GPS) beyond Earth Orbit and on the Moon? • GPS signals effective up to the Earth-Moon 1st Lagrange Point (L1)

– 322,000 km from Earth – Approximately 4/5 the distance to the Moon

• GPS signals can be tracked to the surface of the Moon, but usable with advanced GPS receiver technology


SCaN: NASA Space Communication and Navigation Integrated Network


SCaN: NASA Space Communication and Navigation Integrated Network

Objectives: • to develop a unified space communications and navigation

network infrastructure capable of meeting both robotic and human exploration mission needs;

• to provide the end space communication and navigation infrastructure on Lunar and Mars surfaces;

• to provide anytime/anywhere communication and navigation services as needed for Lunar and Mars human missions.


SCaN: Three Main Networks


SCaN: Moon Relay Capability


SCaN: Mars Relay Capability


AEGIS: NASA Study on Moon and Mars Communications and Navigation Constellations

Objectives: • to provide a flexible communications and navigation

infrastructure supporting human and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars;

• to provide navigational support to mission elements with a minimum 100 m resolution;

• to provide communication between mission elements and mission operations with availability of 95%;

• to use existing technology to reduce cost; • to be based on small, highly manufacturable satellites

reducing cost and engineering time.


AEGIS: Lunar Constellation Design • Six Orbiters per plane at 4,800 km – Spaced evenly at 60° – Meets “three in the sky” requirement for two planes – Three planes offers complete lunar coverage • Two Relays in high polar orbit at 10,000 km – Spaced at 180°


AEGIS: Mars Constellation Design • Nine Orbiters per plane at 9,500 km – Spaced evenly at 40° – Meets “three in the sky” requirement for two planes – Three planes offers complete martian coverage • Two Relays in high polar orbit at 19,800 km – Spaced at 180°


AEGIS: Spacecraft Mass and Power Budgets


PLANCOM: ESA Feasibility Study for a Reduced Planetary Navigation & Communication System

• Planetary infrastructure for future robotic and manned missions on Moon or Mars;

• Communication and navigation network using an integrated signal to provide in-situ services, such as high-quality video, audio channels, data network, biomedical data;

• Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal based on the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standard;

• Navigation capabilities integrated in the waveform, allowing Time of Arrival (TOA) relative real-time positioning over the planetary surface;

• Non real-time fine positioning using available orbiters, possibly using Earth GNSS signals as additional ranging observables.


PLANCOM System Architecture


MOON-GNSS: ESA Study about Use of Weak-Signals GNSS Navigation (1/3)

• Objective: to assess the feasibility of using weak-signal GNSS (GPS/Galileo) technology in future lunar missions, to assist Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO), Low Lunar Orbit (LLO), Descent and Landing, and operations at landing site



• EGNSS: Earth GNSS constellations (GPS/Galileo) • MGNSS: GNSS satellite orbiting around the Moon • MSB: Moon Surface Beacon 19/02/2015 M. Lisi - Space Horizons 2015 18

FATIMA: Fix And TIme provisioning system for MArs

PhD Thesis by Dr. Jozef Kozar, Faculty of Aeronautics, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia-EU


Martian GNSS: Open Issues

• Different ionosphere of Mars than the terrestrial ionosphere of Earth (need for an accurate study of the ionosphere of Mars, with total electron content (TEC) in various layers);

• Missing bipolar magnetic field – missing protection against radiation;

• Various range errors caused by signal transition through the different layers of ionosphere of Mars;

• Total electron content in ionosphere is different on dayside hemisphere than on the other side.


Moon Navigation & Communications Infrastructure: Modular, Expandable, COTS-Based Approach


Multi-Sensor, Data Fusion Platforms


Integrated, Commercially-Oriented Approach to Moon and Mars Communications and Navigations Infrastructures


Space Commercialization and Sponsorship: an Old (Good?) Idea


A Public-Private Partnership Business Model for Moon and Mars Colonization


Conclusions

• The colonization of our solar system, first step of human kind towards the stars, will need establishing permanent base stations on Moon and Mars;

• Planetary infrastructures will provide communications and navigation support to both human and robotic explorers;

• Together with “legacy” architectures, such as the NASA Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) integrated network, alternative solutions can be envisioned, more based on a fusion of commercial technologies with existing resources (e.g. Earth GNSSs);

• These alternative, COTS-based architectures are well suited for innovative (for space) business models, with large involvement of private capital from sponsoring commercial companies.


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"Key infrastructure technologies for sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars"

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