NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space Network

Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by sinuhe69 on Thursday August 31, 2023 @09:12AM (#37336645)

For near-earth communications, I don't see why they can not use the SpaceX network or similar instead. Tracking these tiny CubeSats with only 3 DSN dishes are insane! DSN should really work for deep-space missions only.

I believe that NASA recognized the problem and potential solutions, but they moved slowly probably due to their clunky bureaucracy.

> NASA relies on commercial ground stations for more than half of its ground station support for the agency's satellites in low-Earth orbit. NASA last year selected SpaceX, Amazon, Viasat, Telecast, SES, and Inmarsat to begin developing commercial capabilities to replace the government-owned Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network, which is used for near-continuous connectivity with the International Space Station and other satellites closer to Earth.

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by ceejayoz on Thursday August 31, 2023 @09:17AM (#37336703)

Those CubeSats were a deep-space mission. Out near the Moon.

The TDRSS is separate from DSN. Expanding low-orbit options won't do anything to help here.

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by JCharante on Thursday August 31, 2023 @10:12AM (#37337430)

I didn’t realize Cubesats could go that far. That’s really great.

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by PaulGaspardo on Thursday August 31, 2023 @10:20AM (#37337569)

CubeSats have gone all the way to Mars even

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Cube_One

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by dotnet00 on Thursday August 31, 2023 @10:23AM (#37337620)

Cubesats have been out as far as Mars. There were two which hitched a ride along Perseverance and deployed prior to Mars entry to serve as relays and collect data on the entry, descent and landing phases of the mission.

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by Tangurena2 on Thursday August 31, 2023 @11:21AM (#37338597)

Ukraine has been having trouble with the Starlink because Putin & Musk are pals. It isn't safe for our country to depend on someone that flaky.

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by dismalpedigree on Thursday August 31, 2023 @08:28PM (#37345316)

Any evidence to back up that claim?

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Re:NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space ... by inemesitaffia on Tuesday September 05, 2023 @01:07PM (#37394755)

Ukraine has been having issues because bills weren't paid in full

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