[meteorite-list] NASA Radio Delivered for Europe's 2016 Mars Orbiter

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2014 16:50:53 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201407022350.s62NosPR022032_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-218

NASA Radio Delivered for Europe's 2016 Mars Orbiter
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 02, 2014

The first of two NASA Electra radios that will fly aboard the European
Space Agency's next mission to Mars has been delivered for installation
onto the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).

The TGO is being assembled at Thales Alenia Space, in Cannes, France,
for a 2016 launch opportunity. It will study the Martian atmosphere for
the presence of methane and other gases that may be present in small
concentrations. It will also deploy the ESA Schiaparelli Mars landing
demonstration craft and provide communications support for ESA ExoMars
Rover and a Russian Lander planned for launch in 2018.

Twin Electra ultra-high frequency (UHF) radios on the TGO will provide
communication links with robots on the Martian surface -- rovers or
landers. Relay of information from Mars-surface craft to Mars orbiters,
then from Mars orbit to Earth, enables receiving much more data from the
surface missions than would otherwise be possible.

"We are fortifying our partnership with Europe to strengthen the Mars
relay network together," said Phillip Barela of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, California, project manager for NASA's
participation in ExoMars.

The Electra radio design from JPL includes special features for relay
use between an orbiter and a rover or stationary lander. For example, it
can actively adjust the data rate during a communication session --
slower when the orbiter is near the horizon from the surface robot's
perspective, faster when it is overhead.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter already use
Electra technology for relay of data. A NASA orbiter currently on the
way to Mars, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)
spacecraft, also carries an Electra radio. Plans call for the TGO to use
its Electra radios for communication with ESA's 2018 ExoMars Rover and
Russia's Lander as well as with NASA's 2016 Mars lander and 2020 Mars
rover. The first Electra radio for the TGO was delivered June 17, 2014.
The second is on track for delivery in September.

The planned orbit for the TGO is an advantageous one for providing relay
duty. It is similar to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's at about 250
miles (400 kilometers) in altitude and nearly circular in shape. The
mission will make use of Earth-based radio antenna networks operated by
ESA, NASA and Russia.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages NASA's role in the ESA ExoMars program for the NASA Science
Mission Directorate, Washington.

For more about the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, visit:

http://exploration.esa.int/mars/46475-trace-gas-orbiter/

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2014-218
Received on Wed 02 Jul 2014 07:50:53 PM PDT