International Master SEEDS: The design of a Moon Communication and Navigation System, as part of the Project Work Activity 2006-2007
- Paper number
IAC-08.D1.4.7
- Author
Mr. Amir Sabbagh, AAS-I, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Alessandro Fimiani, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Luigi Rega, Italy
- Year
2008
- Abstract
In the frame of future space exploration activities, the establishment of a permanent lunar base is the first step toward the colonization of the Solar system. This study has been conducted during the International Post Graduate Master Course in SpacE Exploration and Development Systems (SEEDS), as a part of an extensive Project Work Activity (PWA) conducted by a European team of 11 students, focused on the feasibility study of a Permanent Human mOon Exploration BasE (PHOEBE). This paper summarizes a part of the work performed in the frame of the PWA, on the Moon Navigation and Communication System of PHOEBE. Human planetary exploration activities, being characterized by harsh environments, have to be supported by a proper navigation and communication system, not only for operational reasons, but also for psychological and life support aspects. PHOEBE is constituted by a set of pressurized modules and is populated by a crew of 18-24 astronauts, which are scheduled to perform exploration activities by means of pressurized rovers up to approximately 1500 km of distance from the base. In addition, automated rovers are utilized for maintenance duties. The need of continuous, reliable and high data rate links arises, together with the necessity of positioning capabilities for both the manned and unmanned transportation systems on the lunar surface. The communication architecture has been divided into 3 segments: Earth Ground Segment, Space Segment and Moon Segment. The Earth Ground Segment is constituted by a set of Earth-based antennas, operating in different bands and spread over different sites on Earth. The Space Segment is composed by a constellation of 3 satellites orbiting in low lunar orbit and a Space Lagrangian Station orbiting in halo orbit around Earth Moon Lagrangian Point 1. The Moon Segment includes a set of Moon-based antennas, placed in the proximity of the Moon base, and the antennas located on the rovers performing maintenance and exploration activities. Reliable and precise positioning capabilities are the key issues to perform human exploration of the Moon. The navigation system is constituted by a set of Moon ground beacons, by the constellation of communication satellites orbiting in low lunar orbit, and by the instruments carried on-board the rovers. The beacons are supposed to be placed on the Moon surface during precursor missions, and continuously transmit well-known signals to the satellites. These are provided with signal processing capabilities in order to precisely determine their orbital parameters from the signal emitted by the beacons. The receivers carried by the rovers are able to calculate their position on the Moon surface evaluating the Doppler shift of the signals transmitted by the satellites. The study is the result of the work done in the frame of the second edition of the International Master Course in SpacE Exploration and Development Systems (SEEDS) born from a collaboration of Politecnico di Torino (Torino, Italy), SUPAERO (Toulouse, France) and Universität Bremen (Bremen, Germany) with the partnership of European Space Agencies and Industries. The aim is to meet the request emerging from the European Space Industry of a new class of high level specialists, whose main characteristics are to be educated in an international environment and to have gathered an experience in working on advanced projects in some of the most renowned Space Centers, Agencies and Companies of the European Union.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study has been performed by all the SEEDS students: Salvatore Cusumano, Vincent Drevet-Cadet, Alessandro Fimiani, Claudio Finetto, Alexander Karl, Stewart Pelle, Alessandro Rapisarda, Luigi Rega, Daniele Renzoni, Amir Sabbagh and Cosimo Sinesi. The work was supported by ESA, CNES, DLR, ASI, Thales-Alenia Space, EADS Astrium, OHB System, ZARM, Altec and all the tutors and staff from Politecnico di Torino, SUPAERO and Universität Bremen.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.D1.4.7.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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