Motorola Keeps Deep Space 1 In Contact

On board NASA’s Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft is a high reliability, radio frequency communications system jointly designed and developed by Motorola’s Systems Solutions Group and the the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Deep Space 1 is designed to validate 12 new technologies for scientific space missions of the next century. The goal is to make spacecraft smaller, less expensive and more autonomous. Among the experiments aboard is an ion propulsion engine strikingly similar to those described in futuristic science fiction novels.

Also being validated is software that tracks celestial bodies so that the spacecraft can make its own navigation decisions without the intervention of ground controllers.

The Deep Space 1 spacecraft is carrying Motorola’s newest technology in tracking, telemetry, and control (TT&C) transponders, the Small Deep Space Transponder (SDST). The SDST provides the only communications link between the spacecraft and the numerous terrestrial tracking stations that comprise NASA’s Deep Space Network.

This transponder is a major technological leap over Motorola’s previous generation of X-Band TT&C deep space transponders, which were used to transmit all the data and images to and from the Earth for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Mars Pathfinder, and Cassini-Huygens missions.

The SDST combines many separate functions performed by other spacecraft telecommunication systems into one integrated unit with less than half the mass. In addition to X-Band communications, this transponder has the ability to use a Ka-Band radio frequency, which will improve the efficiency of Deep Space Network communications in the future.

“Deep Space 1 is the first step of many within the New Millennium Program, allowing future spacecraft to decrease in size, weight and cost, and increase in self-sufficiency.

“Our long-standing relationship with JPL continues to allow Motorola to significantly contribute to NASA’s improvements in the space industry,” stated Ron Taylor, vice president and general manager of Motorola’s Space Systems and Services Division.