Antenna Network planning for a Deep Space Mission

Paper number

GLEX-2025,13,IP,23,x93786

Author

Mr. ANSHUMAN SHARMA, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Coauthor

Mr. Dharvendra Yadav, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Coauthor

Mrs. Maheswari S, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Coauthor

Mr. Alok Kumar Pandey, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Coauthor

Mr. Sai Charan, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Coauthor

Mr. Raghavendra M R, ISTRAC/ISRO, India

Year

2025

Abstract

ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) is Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) lead centre for providing TTC (Telemetry, Tracking and Commanding) support to Near Earth-Remote Sensing satellites and Deep Space Missions. ISTRAC also provides tracking support to Launch Vehicle missions.
To cater to Deep Space missions, ISTRAC has its own Network of Deep Space Network(DSN) of Antennas in Bengaluru. The Network comprises a 32M antenna and two 18M antennas all catering to S and X band frequency bands.
ISTRAC through its DSN antennas has supported ISRO’s every DSN mission including the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Generally, the phases of any deep space mission are following:
1)	Pre-launch phase
2)	Launch phase
3)	Earth centric phase
4)	The Transfer Trajectory phase
5)	The Lunar phase (in case of a lunar mission)
To cater to requirement of all the phases, Ground Stations (within and outside India) are planned with following criteria:
1)	Maximum visibility throughout the mission life
2)	Redundancies for nominal and critical phases of mission.
3)	Supporting the required frequency band, RF link margins and required tracking dynamics. 
4)	Supporting the required uplink and downlink polarisation with polarisation diversity combining.
Accordingly based on the above criteria, various Ship borne terminals, 10M/11M and DSN antennas are planned to cater to requirement of various phases of any deep space mission.
ISTRAC operates its ground station network with 10M/11M antennas located in Bangalore, Lucknow, Sriharikota, Trivandrum, and Port Blair in India, and in Mauritius, Brunei, and Biak outside India. ISTRAC also has 4.6M transportable terminals, which can be either deployed on land or in deep sea as a Ship borne terminal where a ground based terminal is not available. These antenna terminals have provided crucial support for ISRO’s Mars Orbiter and the Aditya-L1 missions. 
Given the global coverage requirement for a deep space mission, ISTRAC also plans usage of smaller and DSN antennas of other Global space agencies in the required frequency band.
This paper provides insight on the planning of antenna network for supporting a Deep Space mission.

Abstract document

GLEX-2025,13,IP,23,x93786.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

GLEX-2025,13,IP,23,x93786.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.