End-to-end information system concept for the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter

The Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) was intended to provide high-performance deep space relay links to landers, orbiters, sample-return missions, and approaching spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars, to demonstrate interplanetary laser communications, to demonstrate autonomous navigation, and to carry out its own science investigations. These goals led to a need for an array of end-to-end information system (EEIS) capabilities unprecedented for a deep space mission. We describe here the EEIS concept for provision of six major types of services by the MTO: relay, open-loop recording, Marscraft tracking, timing, payload data transport, and Earthlink data transport. We also discuss the key design drivers and strategies employed in the EEIS design, and possible extensions of the MTO EEIS concept to accommodate scenarios beyond the original MTO mission requirements