LADEE |
LADEE |
Jun 28 2012, 03:25 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
I thought it was time to start a new topic on NASA's next Moon mission
incidentally, there is a new mission update out today |
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Sep 6 2013, 09:37 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 39 Joined: 5-June 06 Member No.: 803 |
I look forward to LADEE's launch tonight.
One of the more intriguing bits of new kit is the LLCD - a laser based communication system. It has a number of advantages over radio; smaller size & power, greatly improved data rates, and it doesn't require exclusive use of a chunk of radio spectrum. But there are still things I wonder about. 1. How do the two ends find each other? At lunar distance the 'spot' illuminated by the laser is only a few miles across. 2. There are three ground sites - one in California, one in New Mexico, and one in Tenerife; how does it know where to look? 3. The laser operates in the near infra-red. To what extent can it deal with cloud? I presume there's some beacon mechanism to indicate 'look more closely here', but its not described. To what extent can it deal with slew? Would this mechanism be useful for Earth-orbit-to-ground communications? CE |
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