How to reach Mars?

Despite the apparent closeness, the signal goes from the Earth to Mars in about 5-10 minutes

So, imagine that you urgently need to contact the Rover, located on . How can this be done? In order for humanity had the opportunity to at least virtually visit Mars, the signal sent from Earth, must pass a minimum of fifty-five million kilometers! Even at this distance, which is the smallest, and it happens once in 15-17 years, during a Great confrontation, delay the received signal will be approximately 3 minutes. So how then is it possible to reach Mars, and preferably without interference?

How the Mars Rovers are controlled from Earth?

Despite the fact that the planet Mars is extremely far away from us, now its rusty surface through the Rovers created by man. These little machines not only make full-color images, but also transmit to the Earth a huge amount of scientific data.

In order that we could enjoy the panoramic photographs of the Martian landscape, scientists have created a system that allows us to monitor the whole process data transmission received on the red Planet.

So often in the process of transferring data from Mars are 3 basic shapes — center of space communication, located on Earth, located in orbit around Mars and the Rover itself.

Before we get to Earth, the Rover had to go a very long way

Due to the fact that the Earth revolves very quickly around its axis, to provide a continuous signal to Mars, we need to have several points to receive and transmit data. Such points are called stations of the DSN. The stations are located in the United States, Spain , and, when our planet rotates in the opposite direction, the signal simply being transferred from one station to another, allowing him to operate the spacecraft 24 hours a day.

The Most frequently used station for communication with the Rovers is a station of the DSN, located near the capital city of Australia, Canberra. This active complex has three different sizes: DSS-34 and DSS-45, whose diameter is of 34-meter DSS-43, the amount of which exceed 70 meters.

Overall, the machine performs 4 different functions. So, for the adoption of a clear signal coming from Mars, the station in Canberra should not just to encrypted data, but also to monitor the possibility of communication between the two planets, to process data, send control commands to the scientists on the Rover and monitor system of the station of the DSN.

the DSN Station in Canberra, Australia

All information should be received by the Rover, is sent to the DSN station, where she goes to space travel to distant «red Planet». The signal goes to the planet is about 5-10 minutes, provided that Mars is relatively close to the Earth's distance, after which it catches Martian orbital satellite, which sends the encoded signal to the receiver of the Rover.

All the Rovers are equipped with special antennas, each of which is used to transmit and receive data. So, the Rover is equipped with three antennas, each of which has its own functions. LGA antenna is responsible for receiving information, a UHF antenna is most commonly used for data transmission and equipment HGA is responsible for receiving commands to control the Rover.

Sometimes, the Rover generates so much information that is not always possible to send back all the useful data. In order to solve this problem, NASA set priorities of importance, what part of the data is simply removed before reaching our planet.

do you Need satellites to connect Mars?

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over the Martian surface.

As we discovered earlier, to communicate with the Mars Rovers, we need to use satellites orbiting the red Planet. Each of the satellites communicates with the Rover via a special communication window, which typically last only a few minutes. Despite the short interaction time, this time is sufficient to transfer all necessary information.

If, before the 2006 work of the operator performed satellite Odyssey, now with him running a new satellite Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or MRO. In addition to having a very impressive Arsenal of ultramodern scientific instruments, MRO, and equipped with the latest HiRISE camera, allowing you to take pictures with high resolution.

Stations of the DSN are in communication with MRO for about 16 hours a day, as the rest of the time the satellite is on the reverse side and closed on the signal transmission layer of the planet.

Odyssey Satellite in orbit around Mars.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the process, the cost of one hour of the call is currently approximately $ 10,000. So, if one day you suddenly want to make a call in future , then first you have to collect a decent amount. Well, after reading this article, you at least will know why your call will be worth a lot of money.

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