My presentation "Key infrastructure technologies for sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars"at the workshop Space Horizons 2015, "McMurco on the Moon", February 18-19, 2015, Brown University

1. Key infrastructure technologies for
sustained human exploration of the
Moon and Mars
Marco Lisi
European Space Agency

2. Summary
• The exploration of Moon and Mars with human and robotic
missions and their colonization, through the establishment of
permanent bases, will require planetary communications and
navigation infrastructures;
• All architectural approaches considered so far by NASA and ESA can
be divided in two main categories:
– Comprehensive, well structured and forward looking (but costly)
architectures, based on constellations of orbiters and relay satellites
– “ad hoc”, flexible, expandable architectures, based on a fusion of all
available resources and on COTS technologies
• A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) business model can be
envisioned, with national space agencies sharing investment costs
with major commercial players (Apple, IBM, Google, AT&T, etc).
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3. Outline
• Can we use GNSSs beyond Earth Orbit and on the Moon?
• A review of NASA and ESA proposed system architectures for
communications and navigation infrastructures on Moon and
Mars;
• An integrated, commercially-oriented approach to the
problem;
• Space is not new to commercialization and sponsorships;
• A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) business model for the
exploration of Moon and Mars;
• Conclusions
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4. Can we use GNSS (GPS) beyond Earth Orbit and
on the Moon?
• GPS signals effective up to the Earth-Moon 1st Lagrange Point (L1)
– 322,000 km from Earth
– Approximately 4/5 the distance to the Moon
• GPS signals can be tracked to the surface of the Moon, but usable with
advanced GPS receiver technology
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5. SCaN: NASA Space Communication and
Navigation Integrated Network
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6. SCaN: NASA Space Communication and
Navigation Integrated Network
Objectives:
• to develop a unified space communications and navigation
network infrastructure capable of meeting both robotic and
human exploration mission needs;
• to provide the end space communication and navigation
infrastructure on Lunar and Mars surfaces;
• to provide anytime/anywhere communication and navigation
services as needed for Lunar and Mars human missions.
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7. SCaN: Three Main Networks
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8. SCaN: Moon Relay Capability
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9. SCaN: Mars Relay Capability
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10. AEGIS: NASA Study on Moon and Mars
Communications and Navigation Constellations
Objectives:
• to provide a flexible communications and navigation
infrastructure supporting human and robotic missions to the
Moon and Mars;
• to provide navigational support to mission elements with a
minimum 100 m resolution;
• to provide communication between mission elements and
mission operations with availability of 95%;
• to use existing technology to reduce cost;
• to be based on small, highly manufacturable satellites
reducing cost and engineering time.
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11. AEGIS: Lunar Constellation Design
• Six Orbiters per plane at 4,800 km
– Spaced evenly at 60°
– Meets “three in the sky” requirement for two planes
– Three planes offers complete lunar coverage
• Two Relays in high polar orbit at 10,000 km
– Spaced at 180°
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12. AEGIS: Mars Constellation Design
• Nine Orbiters per plane at 9,500 km
– Spaced evenly at 40°
– Meets “three in the sky” requirement for two planes
– Three planes offers complete martian coverage
• Two Relays in high polar orbit at 19,800 km
– Spaced at 180°
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13. AEGIS: Spacecraft Mass and Power Budgets
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14. PLANCOM: ESA Feasibility Study for a Reduced
Planetary Navigation & Communication System
• Planetary infrastructure for future robotic and manned missions on
Moon or Mars;
• Communication and navigation network using an integrated signal
to provide in-situ services, such as high-quality video, audio
channels, data network, biomedical data;
• Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal
based on the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standard;
• Navigation capabilities integrated in the waveform, allowing Time of
Arrival (TOA) relative real-time positioning over the planetary
surface;
• Non real-time fine positioning using available orbiters, possibly
using Earth GNSS signals as additional ranging observables.
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15. PLANCOM System Architecture
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16. MOON-GNSS: ESA Study about Use of
Weak-Signals GNSS Navigation (1/3)
• Objective: to assess the feasibility of using weak-signal GNSS
(GPS/Galileo) technology in future lunar missions, to assist
Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO), Low Lunar Orbit (LLO), Descent and
Landing, and operations at landing site
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17. MOON-GNSS: ESA Study about Use of
Weak-Signals GNSS Navigation (2/3)
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18. MOON-GNSS: ESA Study about Use of
Weak-Signals GNSS Navigation (3/3)
• EGNSS: Earth GNSS constellations (GPS/Galileo)
• MGNSS: GNSS satellite orbiting around the Moon
• MSB: Moon Surface Beacon
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19. FATIMA: Fix And TIme provisioning system for
MArs
PhD Thesis by Dr. Jozef Kozar, Faculty of Aeronautics, Technical
University of Kosice, Slovakia-EU
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20. Martian GNSS: Open Issues
• Different ionosphere of Mars than the terrestrial ionosphere
of Earth (need for an accurate study of the ionosphere of
Mars, with total electron content (TEC) in various layers);
• Missing bipolar magnetic field – missing protection against
radiation;
• Various range errors caused by signal transition through the
different layers of ionosphere of Mars;
• Total electron content in ionosphere is different on dayside
hemisphere than on the other side.
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21. Moon Navigation & Communications Infrastructure:
Modular, Expandable, COTS-Based Approach
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22. Moon Navigation & Communications Infrastructure:
Modular, Expandable, COTS-Based Approach
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23. Moon Navigation & Communications Infrastructure:
Modular, Expandable, COTS-Based Approach
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24. Multi-Sensor, Data Fusion Platforms
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25. Integrated, Commercially-Oriented Approach to
Moon and Mars Communications and Navigations
Infrastructures
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26. Space Commercialization and Sponsorship:
an Old (Good?) Idea
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27. A Public-Private Partnership Business Model
for Moon and Mars Colonization
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28. Conclusions
• The colonization of our solar system, first step of human kind
towards the stars, will need establishing permanent base stations
on Moon and Mars;
• Planetary infrastructures will provide communications and
navigation support to both human and robotic explorers;
• Together with “legacy” architectures, such as the NASA Space
Communication and Navigation (SCaN) integrated network,
alternative solutions can be envisioned, more based on a fusion of
commercial technologies with existing resources (e.g. Earth GNSSs);
• These alternative, COTS-based architectures are well suited for
innovative (for space) business models, with large involvement of
private capital from sponsoring commercial companies.
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29. THANK YOU.
Questions?