24th May 2013 Sol 284

One of the things we tend to forget about, because it is working quietly in the background, is the communications network.  Most of the data from Curiosity is returned via Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Mars Odyssey.  We use extremely high frequencies (Ka band).  However, Mars Express (the European Orbiter) transmitted back some of the ChemCam data during October last year.  It also acted as a backup during Entry, Descent and Landing. 

As more landers are planned for Mars (2016 Entry Descent Module; 2016 InSight seismometer mission; ExoMars 2018; MSL2020) there will be a greater demand for data handling capacity.  A new ultra high transceiver for the ExoMars 2016 orbiter called MELACOM, has the potential to increase data return rates by a factor of 4.  Currently we get about about 100 Mbits of data per day via MRO and Odyssey.  Matthew Cosby of QinetiQ Space UK, in a visit to the University of Leicester, described how this new technology together with more efficient networks on Earth, could lead to greatly improved data return and one day even a form of interplanetary internet connection.

This new technology was developed for the lightweight communications transceiver on the Beagle2 mission in 2003.