Launched as part of the Artemis 1 lunar mission, the Orion spacecraft has become a priority for NASA, which has affected other missions of the US space agency. In particular, communication with the James Webb Telescope (JWST) has become more complicated.
“Selfie” of the Orion spacecraft, Moon and Earth. Image source: nasa.gov
NASA communicates with distant spacecraft using the Deep Space Network, the ground part of which includes 14 antennas installed in California, Spain and Australia. However, the capacity of this network is limited, and ensuring the necessary time to establish communication sessions with all devices proves to be a difficult task, which was exacerbated by the Artemis 1 mission. The problem was recognized by the head of the James Webb User Committee, Mercedes López-Morales, during her speech at a meeting of the Council on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States on November 30: “In the summer, we were told that when the Artemis space mission is launched, it will almost completely occupy the Deep Space Network due to the need to track the spacecraft”.
25 day mission started November 16 – Orion launched into lunar orbit with the intention of returning on December 11. While it is in flight outside of low Earth orbit, operators are forced to communicate with it almost constantly, and this is a serious problem, because James Webb and all other missions have faded into the background. NASA knew regarding this problem: some of the Deep Space Network antennas were upgraded, and in January 2021 and March 2022. two new ones have been added.
James Webb Space Telescope
However, these measures did not solve the problem: communication with the telescope may not be up to 80 hours, that is, three and a half days, Ms. Lopez-Morales said. On the one hand, there is not much reason to panic, the astrophysicist continued, because scientists working with James Webb send teams to the device regarding once a week, and there is no particular threat to the mission. But for an observatory to work to its full potential, it needs to be able to send its data home, and do so before it can. small drive will be filled. And this is already a problem: scientists do not have the opportunity to receive data for a long time.
As a result, the Artemis 1 mission forced the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, which operates the James Webb and Hubble, to change the observing schedule for the former. Priority has been given to short operations that result in small data packets. This reduces the likelihood that the device’s SSD will fill up before it is possible to send the next batch of materials through the Deep Space Network.
Now scientists are alarmed by the idea that other launches are planned as part of the Artemis missions, including manned spacecraft, in 2024 and beyond. Therefore, researchers are already urging NASA engineers to find an alternative solution to get out of the “communication impasse.”
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