Publisher's Synopsis
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is investigating alternative approaches, technologies, and communication network architectures to facilitate building future Spaceports, building on the communications capabilities that already exist. These investigations support the development of communication networks for use with the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), as well as other crafts presently under development or under consideration in the Government, academic, and private sectors. Forming part of the associated Ground Support Equipment (GSE) that will be necessary to prepare and launch these space crafts, the communication technology resulting from these investigations will also provide a national centralized R&D forum for next-generation Spaceport and Range technology development. Together, these sectors share the common goal of changing the historic risk/reward equation for access to space, especially with regards to communications networks, with the intent to: Dramatically reduce launch cost, Greatly improve launch system reliability, Significantly reduce crew risk. Emerging Communication Technologies is a multi-year task investigating new communication technologies with a high probability of utilization and application for future ranges and spaceports. The primary objective for the Emerging Communication Technology (ECT) task is to lead the development of a Space Based Range Distributed Subsystem (SBRDS) network that provides the concurrent features and growth capabilities necessary for future Spaceports and Ranges to interconnect Range assets, Range operations, and Range users during launch and recovery events, while focusing primarily on the First Mile/Last Mile wireless communication extensions to existing, fixed communication infrastructures.
