Angarak - Space Apps Challenge

Angarak| Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Human missions to Mars are moving from the realm of science fiction to science fact. Your challenge is to design an interactive application to explore the challenge of communicating with astronauts on Mars from Earth.

Hi, I am Angarak! I can hear you now!

Summary

Imagine an astronaut named Angarak researching the Jezero Crater on Mars wants to have a video call with his/her family, and browse internet for information, is it possible? Well, the current communication using RF from the Curiosity rover to the Deep Space Network (DSN), NASA, Earth says it is not viable. It takes around 20 minutes to communicate with the DSN with a data rate: 6 Mbps and minimum bandwidth: 50 MHz. Moreover, during the Solar Conjunction it is not recommended to communicate with the rover. So, we simulated various optical communication links (1550 nm) using OptiSystem with a latency of just 2.1 minutes, data rate of 1Gbps, and minimum bandwidth of 1.6GHz.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The simulation is based upon a prototype developed for Inter-satellite Optical Wireless Communication (IsOWC) for GEO – GEO communication. The same had been developed at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India. The laboratory prototype is limited due to the realistic constraints imposed. Hence for real-time estimates, a software simulation proves to be useful. Therefore, OptiSystem 16 is used to generate a simulation layout based on real time scenarios and study the performance analysis of the system, thereby arriving at the budget analysis.

Fig:1 Astronaut to Astronaut Communication (1.4 km) on Mars

3 real-time scenarios considered for simulation and analysis are:

Direct Communication Chain: Angarak -> GMO -> GEO -> Earth Station
Indirect Communication Chain: Angarak -> GMO -> L4 -> GEO -> Earth Station
Angarak to Astronaut II Communication on Mars

The simulation for each optical communication link in the chain was established along with received optical power, data rate, bandwidth, latency etc.

Given the importance in exploring Mars, a number of orbiter/rover missions are being developed. This is because of 4 primary goals: Life, Climate, Humans, and Geology. Curiosity and Perseverance has already set a stage for it. As these missions are going to pave the way for future human missions, it is very important to have 24x7 communication capabilities from Mars to Earth. Right now orbiters revolving around Mars cross Gale Crater for just 8 minutes just 2 times a day. Will that time be sufficient for astronauts to send/live stream their findings on the planet? Also, we need to consider low transmitting power with higher data rates and bandwidth compared to RF communication.

Our simulation paves the way for developing future optical communication systems in satellites or orbiters revolving Mars and Earth in the geostationary orbit.

How We Developed This Project

With Perseverence’s launch and SpaceX’s lightning development of the Starship we understood that humans are definitely going to Mars in 2030’s. Only a decade in our hand, we need to find a way for humans to successfully communicate from Mars without any interruption, like Solar Conjunction. Already as communication engineers working on optical communication systems we got inspired by the “Can You Hear Me Now?” challenge. Upon perusing all the resources under the challenge, we decided to make future astronauts on Mars to hear us. Not only send crucial science data back to Earth but also to stream HD videos!

Tools: OptiSystem is a software tool which enables users to build, test, and simulate optical communication network links. The software houses several libraries such as transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, and filters for both optical and electrical components. It is based on realistic modeling of fiber optic communications systems and it is an hierarchical design from optical components to systems , its capabilities can be easily expanded with addition of user components and seamless interfaces to a range of widely used tools.

Problems: Communication in solar conjunction period and latency.

Achievements: A latency of just 2.1 minutes for a data rate of minimum 1 Gbps compared to RF communication that is 20 minutes! https://codepen.io/roshni06/full/BajeWGW (Full Technical Documentation)

How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project

This challenge taught us many things, and we referred NASA journals and documents etc… and they gave us an idea, about technologies what we are using now. Before using these references, we have many challenges before us which we cannot solve such as distances and conjunction period are some, then we used sites of NASA. It helped us a lot to overcome our challenges.

For mars atmosphere and conditions, we referred “MARS IN OUR NIGHT SKY”, “SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION” and studied data from mars exploration missions.

For RF communications we used “REASEARCH ON MASS COMMUNICATION LINK BUDGET” journal and “WHAT IS SPACE NETWORK BY NASA” the current mode of communication. For a selection of potential point on mars we used “PICKING A LANDING SITE FOR NASAS MARS 2020 ROVER” and for laser communication “NASAS COUNT DOWN TO LASER COMMUNICATIONS FOR MARS” and OPTI SYSTEM. By using that data, we added our knowledge and completed this work.