Operational demonstration of Ka-band telecommunications for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and the NASA Interplanetary Network Directorate are collaborating to establish the first operational use of Ka-and for telemetry and navigation in a deep space application. The objectives of the operational demonstration are to verify that the anticipated benefits of the higher carrier frequency can actually be realized under realistic operating conditions, and if possible to provide a significant enhancement to scientific data return. We anticipate being able to demonstrate Ka-band data rates in the range 0.5 to 4.0 Mbps depending on Earth-Mars distance. We also anticipate demonstration of significant improvements in the accuracy of round-trip Doppler, ranging, and differenced differential one-way range (delta-DOR). The major open issues to be addressed in the coming year of design activities are: further characterization of weather statistics; selection of the operational methods to manage weather-induced uncertainties of link performance; the ability to consistently point large ground antennas without residual carrier signals; the performance and pointing of a large spacecraft antenna on a dynamic spacecraft; the best methods of utilizing the ground and spacecraft data system resources for optimization of data return; and the construction of a Ka-band radio source catalog.