The DSN is the communication gateway to NASA's Earth Orbiting and planetary spacecraft. The DSN is unique among space communication systems in that it is link configurable. For each pass of a spacecraft, there is a set of antennas, receivers, transmitters, and other signal processing subsystems which can be combined to complete a tracking cycle. In the past, when the number of orbiting satellites and planetary spacecraft were fairly small, manual control of this complex tracking system was manageable. However, with the growth in planned missions for Mars, Venus, the sun, outer planets, comet flybys, and asteroid encounters, it is becoming increasingly clear that the complex tasks associated with antenna control/coordination and telemetry capture will eventually overwhelm existing tracking crews. Mistakes in data entry/retrieval can result in loss of valuable science data as well as spacecraft control blackout. This paper describes the DSN automation system design, functions, test results, and actual field implementation experience.
Automating operations for NASA's deep space network (DSN)
IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2001 ; 7/3383
2001
Seiten, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Automating The Operations of NASA's Deep Space Network 26- Meter Antennas
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2000
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