Two major NASA missions launched in the past year reveal the weakness of space communications.
NASA communicates with all its distant space – a Orion capsule to James Webb Space Telescope (Web or JWST) to Voyager 1 — by Deep Network, a collection of 14 antennas located in three locations in California, Spain and Australia. But it is the same, the real estate and the course as, the stratum who how earth The orbit of social communications has a time when it needs a cunning, exit as Artemis 1 the mission is exasperated.
“We were told over the summer, when the Artemis space mission was launched, that the Deep Space Network would basically be completely taken over by Artemis because of the space’s need to wear a watch,” said Mercedes López-Morales, an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian. Center for Astrophysics and chair of the JWST Users Committee, announced a meeting of the US National Academies of Sciences Board on Physics and Astronomy on Wednesday (Nov. 30).
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The time came on Nov. 16 NASA launched Artemis 1. A test flight to kick off the agency’s return to the moon, the 25-day mission sent the unmanned Orion capsule into lunar orbit and is scheduled to reach Earth on Dec. 11.
While Orion is in flight and lowered beyond Earth orbit, it is in near-constant contact with the Deep Space Network—a major drain that has put the James Webb Space Telescope and other missions at its door. NASA knew to target Diana in the deep space network; In the meantime, he made some upgrades to the antennas and added two new ones January 2021 and March 2022 in preparation.
But the time for communication is still scarce. “It will be possible for up to 80 hours – which is about three and a half days – of absolutely no contact with JWST,” López-Morales said he was told before the Artemis 1 launch.
JWST scientists usually send orders to the $10 billion speculator once a week, the board said, so the rare communications don’t affect the speculator orders. But for astronomers to really enjoy Webb’s power, the telescope needs to be able to transmit its signal home — and that’s before it fills its computer.
“The big issue is that you can’t extract data at that time,” said López-Morales.
For Artemis 1, he said, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, which operates both JWST and THEO Hubble Space TelescopeReboot the saved JWST schedule. Scientists have prioritized shorter observations, which produce smaller batches of data, reducing the chances of the telescope’s computer before the Deep Space Network can receive the next batch of data.
But since NASA plans additional Artemis – and these with human boats – in 2024 and beyond, scientists want another solution to logjam communications.
“We are asking NASA to come up with a plan to have more access to the antennas,” said López-Morales.
Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
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