Continuous Communications to the Moon's South Pole

Abstract

*& † ‡ Landing sites near the South Pole of the Moon have been proposed for the up coming Lunar Precursor and Robotics Program (LPRP ) and eventual return to the Moon. Direct line of sight from the lunar South Pole to Earth either does not exist at all, or exists only periodically in many of the areas of interest. This paper will invest igate several different communications architecture that enables lunar South Pole communication to Earth, including surface -to -lunar -relay, direct line of sight, and surface -to -Earth -relay.