MAVEN relay operations

Author

Chamberlain, Neil ; Gladden, Roy ; Barela, Phil ; Epp, Larry ; Bruvold, Kris

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

7-14 March 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

12

Abstract

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission launched in late 2013 and began commissioning operations in September 2014 following a 10 month cruise to Mars. The Mission will study the upper atmosphere of the planet. In addition to the science instruments, the MAVEN spacecraft is equipped with an Electra UHF transceiver to support relay communication with landed assets. This paper describes how the UHF relay service was developed and validated through assembly test and launch operations (ATLO) as well as during cruise to, and transition into, Mars orbit. The discussion includes a description of the various functional and thread tests conducted during ATLO, a description of checkout activities during Cruise, a ground-based operational readiness test to simulate a future contact with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, and a description of an actual overflight with MSL during the Transition phase.

Keywords

radio transceivers; relay networks (telecommunication); space communication links; ATLO; Electra UHF transceiver; MAVEN relay operation; MAVEN spacecraft; MSL rover; Mars Science Laboratory rover; Mars atmosphere-volatile evolution mission; Mars orbit; UHF relay service; assembly test-launch operations; ground-based operational readiness test; relay communication; Bit error rate; Electromagnetic interference; Frequency modulation; Instruments; Relays; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2015 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-5379-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2015.7119237

Filename

7119237