CONCEPT CONSIDERATIONS FOR A DEEP SPACE GRAVITY PROBE BASED ON LASER-CONTROLLED FREE-FLYING REFERENCE MASSES

Concept considerations for a space mission with the objective of precisely testing the gravitational motion of a small test mass in the solar system environment are presented. In particular, the mission goal is an unambiguous experimental verification or falsification of the Pioneer anomaly effect. A promising concept is featuring a passive reference mass, shielded or well modeled with respect to nongravitational accelerations and formation flying with a rather standard deep space probe. The probe provides laser ranging and angular tracking to the reference mass, ranging to Earth via the radio-communication link and shielding from light pressure in the early parts of the mission. State-of-the-art ranging equipment can be used throughout, but requires in part optimization to meet the stringent physical budget constraints of a deep space mission. Mission operation aspects are briefly addressed.

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Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) Downlink Simulation with Varying PPM Order

10.21203/rs.3.rs-185923/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emmanuel Domfeh Aboagye ◽

Shun-Ping Chen

Keyword(s):

Power Level ◽

Space Mission ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Communication Link ◽

Noise Power ◽

Deep Space ◽

Data Rates ◽

Wide Range ◽

Error Probabilities ◽

Operating Points

Abstract During the course of a typical deep space mission like Mars Earth mission, there exist a wide range of operating points due to the different changes in geometry that consequently cause different Link Budgets in terms of received signal and noise power. These changes include: Distance Range, Sun-Earth-Planet Angle, Zenith Angle and Atmospheric conditions. The different operating points with different losses (background noise, pointing losses and atmospheric losses) lead to different capacities and data rates over the course of a typical Deep Space mission. Consequently, different engineering parameters are adjusted and optimized to combat some of these varying losses in order to get an acceptable data rate and bit error probabilities. This provides a good basis to undertake analysis and simulations of the various operating conditions that occur with the varying spatial orbital time periods on the resulting received signal power level, noise power level, capacity, data rates and bit error probabilities. This paper details results of simulations done in a typical Deep Space Optical Communication link operation.

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Deep space optical communications (DSOC) downlink simulation with varying PPM order

Optical and Quantum Electronics ◽

10.1007/s11082-021-03232-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 53 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Emmanuel Domfeh Aboagye ◽

Shun-Ping Chen

Keyword(s):

Power Level ◽

Space Mission ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Communication Link ◽

Noise Power ◽

Deep Space ◽

Data Rates ◽

Wide Range ◽

Error Probabilities ◽

Operating Points

AbstractDuring the course of a typical deep space mission like the Mars Earth mission, there exist a wide range of operating points, due to the different changes in geometry that consequently cause different link budgets in terms of received signal and noise power. These changes include distance range, Sun-Earth-Probe angle, zenith angle and atmospheric conditions. The different operating points, with different losses (background noise, pointing losses and atmospheric losses), lead to different capacities and data rates over the course of a typical deep space mission. Consequently, different engineering parameters are adjusted and optimized to combat some of these varying losses in order to get acceptable data rates and bit error probabilities. This is a useful reason to analyze and simulate various operating conditions that occur with the varying spatial orbital time periods of the resulting received signal power level, noise power level, capacity, data rates and bit error probabilities. This paper details results of simulations of typical deep space optical communication link operation.

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Time sorting filtering algorithm for deep space mission planning

Automation, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering ◽

10.2495/amee141142 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

D.X. Chen ◽

R. Xu ◽

P.Y. Cui

Keyword(s):

Space Mission ◽

Mission Planning ◽

Deep Space ◽

Filtering Algorithm

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Ultrasonic Wireless Sensor Network for Human Habitation in Deep Space Mission

2019 IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE) ◽

10.1109/wisee.2019.8920364 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Hendra Kesuma ◽

Sallar Ahmadi-Pour ◽

Hans-Jurgen Zimmerman ◽

Amber Joseph ◽

Patrick Weis

Keyword(s):

Wireless Sensor Network ◽

Sensor Network ◽

Space Mission ◽

Wireless Sensor ◽

Deep Space ◽

Human Habitation

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An advance in transfer line chilldown heat transfer of cryogenic propellants in microgravity using microfilm coating for enabling deep space exploration

npj Microgravity ◽

10.1038/s41526-021-00149-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

J. N. Chung ◽

Jun Dong ◽

Hao Wang ◽

S. R. Darr ◽

J. W. Hartwig

Keyword(s):

Space Exploration ◽

Fluid Management ◽

Microgravity Condition ◽

Space Mission ◽

Low Earth Orbit ◽

Earth Orbit ◽

Deep Space ◽

Deep Space Exploration ◽

Quenching Efficiency ◽

Proper Perspective

AbstractThe extension of human space exploration from a low earth orbit to a high earth orbit, then to Moon, Mars, and possibly asteroids is NASA’s biggest challenge for the new millennium. Integral to this mission is the effective, sufficient, and reliable supply of cryogenic propellant fluids. Therefore, highly energy-efficient thermal-fluid management breakthrough concepts to conserve and minimize the cryogen consumption have become the focus of research and development, especially for the deep space mission to mars. Here we introduce such a concept and demonstrate its feasibility in parabolic flights under a simulated space microgravity condition. We show that by coating the inner surface of a cryogenic propellant transfer pipe with low-thermal conductivity microfilms, the quenching efficiency can be increased up to 176% over that of the traditional bare-surface pipe for the thermal management process of chilling down the transfer pipe. To put this into proper perspective, the much higher efficiency translates into a 65% savings in propellant consumption.

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