![]() Its craters contain ice, at least to some extent. The moon’s south pole is one probable hot spot because And third, while guaranteeing high visibility for lunar hot spots, we don’t want to deny connectivity to any other portions of the surface as a result.Īny relay-satellite network needs to provide the best possible service and coverage with the minimum number of satellites. Second, orbits need to be selected with continuous or near-continuous physical line of sight to “hot spots” that will likely have considerable human or robotic activity. First, we would like to use orbits that are stable-meaning satellites would require little or no maneuvering. Placing relay satellites in orbit around the moon comes with challenges. With this relay system, missions anywhere on the lunar surface would have reliable, consistent connections to Earth. This configuration would provide continuous coverage to the poles, and near-continuous coverage everywhere else, with only occasional slight gaps. The approach consists of 24 relay satellites to be placed in a constellation using 4 orbits, with 6 satellites per orbit. Argotec (at which Balossino is head of the R&D unit) is developing spacecraft concepts and JPL (at which Davarian is a project manager) is providing subsystems such as radios and antennas. A better solution to lunar connectivity is a network of relay spacecraft orbiting the moon to provide continuous coverage everywhere.Īrgotec and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are collaborating on the concept of an orbiting relay satellite constellation called Andromeda. Small robots, for example, will not have the space or the power for these large systems. Even on the side facing Earth, hills and crater walls can block communications.Īnd on the practical side, direct communication across hundreds of thousands of kilometers of space requires a powerful communications terminal with a large antenna or a high-wattage amplifier, if not both. For example, the moon’s far side, as well as large portions of its poles, have no direct line of sight to Earth. While direct radio communication with Earth was used during the Apollo missions, it doesn’t work in every possible situation. The proposed Lunar Crater Radio Telescope would turn a crater on the far side of the moon into a massive dish-shaped antenna to survey the universe, accumulating massive amounts of data that need to be sent back to Earth for analysis. And this is only the beginning: We anticipate that interest in the moon will accelerate, eventually culminating in a permanent human presence on the surface. ![]() Of course, not all these planned missions will materialize, but many-if not most-will happen in some form. Over 90 lunar missions being considered for the years between now and 2030. This facility, known as the Lunar Gateway, would store supplies, host visiting astronauts, and facilitate communication between the moon and Earth.Īlthough the gateway is perhaps the most ambitious of the projects planned, it’s only one of NASA, for example, has plans to visit the moon using both robots and humans, and is also considering-with international collaborators-a small orbiting outpost in the next decade. The Apollo era, by both space agencies and commercial entities. ![]() Earth’s moon is the target of more missions than at any time since
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