The Survive the Lunar Night Low-SWaP Low Data Rate Optical Communication System (LDROC) provides a low data rate optical communications point to point data transmission. The system works for surface to orbit (e.g. rover to an orbital satellite) as well as terrestrially (e.g. between points on the surface such as landers or rovers). During the lunar night (~14 days), lunar surface systems go into a hibernation or quiescence period to preserve power and "survive the lunar night". The LDROC system is low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) user terminal that will provide an ability for lunar surface assets to have communications while in a low-power mode during the lunar night. The LDROC system is designed to be a standalone beacon connected to the host. It has variable strobe schemes that will be viewed from Crescent Space's Parsec® lunar comm relay satellites. Prior to the lunar night, the lunar surface asset activates the LDROC terminal, which powers on the beacon. As a Parsec satellite passes over the dark side of the moon, the optical camera picks up the light from the beacon and can decode the message onboard or sends the data back to Earth providing surface asset status to their mission operations center.
Survive the Lunar Night Low-SWaP Optical Communication System
2024-03-02
3838829 byte
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English