Deep-space to ground laser communications in a cloudy world

Gary S. Wojcik; Heather L. Szymczak; Randall J. Alliss; Robert P. Link; Mary Ellen Craddock; Michael L. Mason

doi:10.1117/12.615435

31 August 2005 Deep-space to ground laser communications in a cloudy world

Gary S. Wojcik, Heather L. Szymczak, Randall J. Alliss, Robert P. Link, Mary Ellen Craddock, Michael L. Mason

Proceedings Volume 5892, Free-Space Laser Communications V; 589203 (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615435
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Future deep-space communications will require the collection and transmission of data from high-bandwidth links. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is investigating the utility of laser communications for future missions to Mars and for future communication stations on the moon. Cloud cover impacts the availability of space to ground optical communications. Mitigating these impacts requires a geographically diverse network of ground communication. Selecting the number and location of stations for a network requires an optimization algorithm that can distinguish and rank site availability based on multi-year cloud climatologies for many locations around the globe. The optimization algorithm must also consider the movement and location of a space-borne probe. In this JPL-funded study, the TASC Lasercom Network Optimization Tool (LNOT) is used to determine optimal networks of receiving stations by analyzing cloud mask data from the continental United States, Hawaii, South America, Europe, northern and southern Africa, the Middle East, central and eastern Asia, and Australia. To generate cloud masks, raw visible and infrared radiance data from GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) and Meteosat satellites are compared to predicted clear sky background values. Several threshold tests in the Cloud Mask Generator (CMG) involving radiance-derived cloud identification tools (e.g., fog product, albedo product) are used to estimate the probability of cloud cover for a given pixel of a satellite image. When stations are chosen from a list of sites of interest, six stations are needed to achieve a network availability of 90 % or better.

Citation Download Citation

Gary S. Wojcik, Heather L. Szymczak, Randall J. Alliss, Robert P. Link, Mary Ellen Craddock, and Michael L. Mason "Deep-space to ground laser communications in a cloudy world", Proc. SPIE 5892, Free-Space Laser Communications V, 589203 (31 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615435

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