Planetary telecommunication development during the next ten years

The past Mariner missions to the inner planets have greatly increased our knowledge about Mars, Venus, and Mercury. The continued success of these missions has been enhanced by the evolution of communication technology, with the main growth in the ground capability. The missions during the next decade will concentrate on the outer planets, with requirements to operate over greatly increased ranges in hostile radiation environments, and for reduced weight to allow the transportation of probes. The communication requirements will be mainly achieved by increases in flight equipment performance, new larger antennas, and operation at higher frequencies. The rate of growth of the communication capability is heavily dependent on the type of missions planned. However, we do have the capability to provide significant data return from the outer planets.