 advertisement
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Deep Space Network Faces Major Crunch
By
Pasadena Bureau Chief
posted: 07:00 am ET
04 December 2000
|
dsn_crunch_001128 PASADENA, Calif. — The worldwide array of antennas NASA uses to communicate with its interplanetary spacecraft faces a looming crisis in late 2003, when nearly a dozen different missions will require as much as three times the network support the giant dishes can handle. 
A side view of the 70-meter antenna at Goldstone, California during tracking. The antennas in the United States, Spain and Australia that provide radio communications for NASA and other spacecraft are typically always overbooked, with demand steadily outstripping the sheer number of hours of coverage the giant dishes, some 231 feet (70 meters) across, can provide. But in late 2003 and stretching into early 2004, the crunch will grow far, far worse. During that time, a regular fleet of American, European and Japanese spacecraft will all be performing critical maneuvers, placing an unprecedented burden on the Deep Space Network (DSN) of antennas. [uplink] As a result, demand could peak at upward of 300 percent of the network’s capacity, said Gael Squibb, director of the telecommunications and mission operations directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that oversees the DSN. "This is a time where we’ve seen more loading than we have typically seen," Squibb said. Indeed, during that window, within a period of just a few short months: Deep Impact launches; CONTOUR flies by the comet Encke; Two Mars Exploration Rovers land on Mars; Europe’s Mars Express enters Mars Orbit; Britain’s Beagle 2 lands on Mars; Japan’s Nozomi enters Mars Orbit; Stardust encounters the comet Wild 2; Cassini performs gravity wave experiments; Space Infrared Telescope Facility is in prime of mission; 2001 Mars Odyssey is in prime of mission."There’s a traffic jam at Mars and the antennas are overcommitted," said Thomas Gavin, director of the space science flight projects directorate at NASA’s JPL. Although the jam lies years in the future, NASA is already working to relieve the pressure. "Three years ahead of the fact there is this recognition of what is going to happen and ‘Oh my God, what can we do about it?’" said Peter Theisinger, the project manager for the twin 2003 Mars rovers. The rovers, dubbed "A" and "B" for the time being, land on Mars on January 4 and February 8, 2004, with a 55-day overlap on the surface. Next page: A solution? ~ No one is panicking yet, though. Network planners have requested that individual missions winnow down the number of hours they might need. "We’ve asked missions to nail down their coverage, what they’ll use and how critical it is," Squibb said. NASA may also add one or two antennas to augment the giant dishes already at work in Goldstone, California; Canberra, Australia and Madrid, Spain.
DSN antennas at Canberra But at roughly $30 million a pop, 112-foot (34-meter) beam wave-guide (BWG) antennas don’t come cheap. Several European and Japanese antennas will likely also pitch in with the effort. "There need to be more ears," Gavin said.As for rescheduling missions to avoid the winter pileup, that’s just not an option, since it’s the heavens — not NASA — calling the shots. "The celestial mechanics are pretty unforgiving," Theisinger said. NASA scientists expect to have a plan in place by February. "There is a lot of action going on and we are just taking an early look at what this implies so we don’t get caught without any options," Squibb said. Gavin said the problem is in many ways a badge of pride for NASA. "That’s a good thing. It’s saying we’re launching so many missions that there’s a traffic jam," he said. Even though missions will have to horse trade some time on the network to make it all work, no one mission will get short shrift, Theisinger predicted. "The system operates under the ‘they’re all my children’ approach," he said. "Everyone is treated as an equal."
|
