Houston We have a solution| Can You Hear Me Now?
Can You Hear Me Now?
HOPE
Summary
HOPE project is based on establishing permanent communication between the Earth and Mars regardless of the positions of them and their rotations. In this way, it will allow Martian astronauts to communicate with their loved ones on Earth through a simple smartphone.
How We Addressed This Challenge
The challenge ranges from interplanetary communication to interpersonal communication.
We have developed an application for people to use both on earth and on Mars and a communication proposal between the planets.
It is important because it allows the colonists of Mars to be in contact with people despite the distance.
It works with DSN, the bundle protocol, Wi-Fi and LoRa.
We hope that in the future a faster way of communication can be discovered…
How We Developed This Project
As a group we have always been passionate about people communication no matter the distance. When we design this project, we have in mind the future colony on Mars, which will need a way to communicate with people on Earth.
For the communication between Mars and Earth, we decide to place three geostationary satellites on Mars to ensure communication no matter planets' rotation, reducing errors and high reliability. It will be necessary to place a fourth satellite on a Lagranging point of the Sun and Earth (L4 or L5) which will retransmit the information.
Another way for sending data is through an optical link. This would consist of coding messages in Morse code, and sending them as light pulses through the free space (FSO). Is clearly seen that this technique will have some issues because it needs a free sight line to provide an effective link. To solve this other problem, we propose the use of multiple channels to transmit (a redundant system) and a bug fix code above the link satellites. The bug fix code will take advantage of the multiple light signals to establish a comparison between all the recepted messages, and we will also consider the last probabilistic data provided by different space agencies, about asteroids surrounding the area and space junk. Because of the simplified coding method, it would reduce latency.
For inner communication on Mars, communication networks based on WiFi technology (such as ESP8266 12F module) and LoRa (LoRa SX1278 Ra-1 module) will be used, as WiFi is a type of simple, safe, reliable technology that on planet Earth It is used massively, and, LoRa, as it is a technology that uses relatively little energy compared to others, and also has a range greater than 10 km (6.24 miles).
This is required since during the Martian walks, the astronaut can have voice commands activated and from there communicate without any problem with the Earth, obviously with their respective time delay due to the distance between both planets. In addition allows a communication with very low latency between Mars-Mars.
For missions with a range greater than 10 km (6.25 miles), LoRa repeater stations will be installed and will be powered by a solar panel in conjunction with a battery.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
The NASA website was used to learn about the current technologies used to communicate Curiosity with Earth.
In addition, the information from LCRD was used to increase the amount of data sent.
Information was also obtained from the Lagranging points.
Project Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aWO9_fS1U&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=JuanAugsburger
Data & Resources
Links:
-Lagranging points:
https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Mlagrng2.htm
-Deep Space Optical Communications:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/dsoc/index.html
-The Red Planet:
https://mars.nasa.gov/
-Communications with Earth.
https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/communications/
-Curiosity:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/communications/