NASA has the Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) company to support the Spherex mission data (spectrophotometer for the history of the universe, a time of reionization and ice explorer) of the agency, whose objective is to explore the origins of the universe.
“NASA is not only advancing towards commercialization, but is also making technological advances in existing systems and saving millions of dollars in the process, all while while expand human knowledge through scientific and exploration missions”Said Kevin Coggins, associate administrator of the NASA SCAN (Communications and space Navigation) program.
To receive data from space missions, NASA resorts to the close space network and the deep space network, A collection of antennas distributed throughout the planet. In preparation for the recently launched Spherex Observatory, NASA needed to update an antenna in the most remote continent in the world: Antarctica.
Transmitted through the NASA near space network, a video shows Spherex scanning a region of the great cloud of Magallanes. Changing colors represent different infrared wavelengths detected by the two sets of the telescope.
NASA’s Scan program adopted an innovative approach by taking advantage of its solid commercial collaboration with Ksat. Although in 2023 an antennas improved to the near space network were incorporated, Spherex required an additional Antarctic antenna that could connect to an online data storage system.
To support Spherex’s polar orbit, KSAT modernized its troll antenna, in Antarctica, and incorporated its own cloud storage system. Subsequently, NASA connected Ksat’s cloud to NASA’s cloud, Daphne+ (data acquisition and management process).
As an operational cloud service system of the near space network, Daphne+ allows scientific missions to transmit their data to the network for the storage, processing and management of virtual files.
“By connecting the Troll to Daphne+antenna, we eliminate the need for large fiber optic cables by virtually connecting private and government cloud systems, which reduces the cost and complexity of the project”Said Matt Vincent, director of the Spherex mission for the near space network at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
-Every day, Spherex downloads a part of its 20 gigabytes of scientific data through the Troll antenna, which transfers the files through the Ksat retransmission satellite network to the Daphne+cloud. The cloud system combines and centralizes the data of each antennawhich allows access to all Spherex’s scientific and health data from a single place.
With coverage throughout its orbit, Spherex transmits its 3D maps of the celestial skyoffering a new perspective of what happened a second fraction after the Big Bang.
“Missions such as Spherex use the combination of commercial and governmental antennas of the near space network,” said Michael Skube, Daphne+ manager at the NASA Goddard Center. “And that is Daphne +’s advantage: it allows the network to centralize different sources of information. The Daphne+ system integrates government and commercial antennas as part of the same network.”
The collaboration is mutually beneficial. The NASA near space network maintains a data connection with Spherex as it crosses both poles, and Ksat benefits from the integration of its antennas into a robust global network, without the need for new cables.
“We managed to find a KSAT network solution that did not require the installation of additional hardware in Antarctica,” said Vincent. “Now we operate with the highest data speed that we have never downloaded from that location.”
For NASA, its business partners and other global space agencies, This expansion means more reliable spatial communications with less expenses.
The successful troll integration into the nearby space network is a case study for future private and governmental collaborations. While Spherex measures the collective brightness of more than 450 million galaxies At a distance of up to 10,000 million light years, Scan continues to innovate so that their discoveries return safely to the earth.
The Spherex mission is managed by the NASA jet propulsion laboratory (JPL), in southern California, for the agency’s astrophysics division, within the direction of scientific missions at NASA’s headquarters. The data will be processed and filed on the iPac of Caltech. The Spherex data set will be publicly available in the NASA Infrared Scientific Archive (IRC). The financing and supervision of Daphne+ and the close space network come from the SCAN program office at the NASA headquarters and operate from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Troll Satellite Station is owned by Kongsberg Satellite Services and is located in the land of Queen Maud, Antarctica.
