Communications System

How does DS1's communications system work?

How long does it take for transmissions to travel between DS1 and Earth?

The answer to this question depends on where DS1 is at the time. DS1 is getting farther and farther away from Earth, so the transmission time is taking longer and longer. We know how fast radio waves travel and how far away DS1 is. Using those two pieces of information, we can figure out how long a transmission will take at any given time.

Radio waves travel at the speed of light (299,792 kilometers per second) making transmissions almost instantaneous early in the mission. But as the distance between Earth and DS1 gets big, even a signal at the speed of light takes a little while to travel. The time between sending and receiving a signal is called "lag." Keeping track of lag time can be very important because it affects how fast DS1 can respond to ground commands.

For example, if DS1 was to send a signal telling us it has some sort of problem, scientists on Earth would have several solutions available. However, those solutions might need to be applied right away. If the lag is too long, the solution might not work because it will be too late by the time the command message got back up to DS1.

Below is a list of a few distances and the lag times we would experience trying to communicate over that distance.

Light Time Approximate Distance Example
1 second 299,792 km about 0.75 x Earth-Moon distance
8.3 minutes 150,000,000 km Earth-Sun distance
1 hour 1,000,000,000 km about 1.5 x Sun-Jupiter Distance
4 years 4 light years Distance to nearest star

 


How much time on the Deep Space Network is DS1 getting?
What are uplink and downlink?
What is the Deep Space Network?
What interferes with communications?
How often is DS1 in communication with Earth?

How is lag dealt with?
How do the instruments and sensors coordinate sending signals?
Why does communication get harder at greater distances?
How much data is DS1 able to transfer?

How is lag time kept track of?