Earth-Moon Communication from a Moving Lunar Rover

Abstract

Carnegie Mellon University has proposed an educational- and entertainment-based robotic lunar mission which will last two years and cover 1000km on the moon and revisit several historic sites. With the transmission of live panoramic video, participants will be provided the opportunity for interactively exploring the moon through teleoperation and telepresence. The requirement of panoramic video and telepresence demands high data rates on the order of 7.5 Mbps. This is challenging since the power available for communication is approximately 100W and occupied bandwidth is limited to less than 10 MHz. The tough environment on the moon introduces additional challenges of survivability and reliability. A communication system based on a phased array antenna, Nyquist QPSK modulation and a rate 2/3 Turbo code is presented which can satisfy requirements of continuous high data rate communication at low power and bandwidth reliably over a two year mission duration. Three ground stations with 22m parabolic antennas are required around the world to maintain continuous communication. The transmission will then be relayed via satellite to the current control station location. This paper presents an overview of the mission, and communication requirements and design.