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<font face="Courier New"><b>The New Horizons spacecraft at Pluto
enjoyed recent well-deserved publicity but 4.78 Billion
Kilometer data links ... how does that work? When I asked this
question of friend and </b></font><font face="Courier New"><b><font
face="Courier New"><b>AMSAT colleague </b></font>Courtney
Duncan, N5BF, Supervising Senior Engineer and Principal
Investigator with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), he responded
with links to very helpful information. Perhaps there are n</b></font><font
face="Courier New"><b>umerous AMRAD Tacos readers who will also be
interested.<br>
<br>
New Horizons and numerous other distant spacecraft (Voyager-1 is
currently at 19.65 Billion Kilometers) communicate through
NASA/JPL's Deep Space Network (DSN), <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/</a>.
Interesting real-time network status is available via <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html">https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html</a>.
Select an antenna currently communicating, with the New Horizons
spacecraft (NHPC) for example, and then select "More Detail"
near the lower right-hand corner. New Horizons and Voyager
spacecraft links are using DSN 70m antennas, DSS-14 at
Goldstone, DSS-43 at Canberra and DSS-63 at Madrid.<br>
<br>
Much more DSN data link technical discussion and standards are
available from the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems
(CCSDS), <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://public.ccsds.org/default.aspx">http://public.ccsds.org/default.aspx</a>.
Space Link Services documents are available via <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://public.ccsds.org/publications/SLS.aspx">http://public.ccsds.org/publications/SLS.aspx</a>.
The DSN Deep Space Network Services Catalog is available via <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/files/dsn/820-100-F1.pdf">https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/files/dsn/820-100-F1.pdf</a>.
<br>
<br>
Papers discussing information specific to New Horizons
spacecraft data link systems are available. Here is a selection
to consider:<br>
<br>
The RF Telecommunications System for the New Horizons Mission to
Pluto<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/NH%20RF%20Telecom%20Sys%20ID1369%20FINAL_Deboy.pdf">http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~tcase/NH%20RF%20Telecom%20Sys%20ID1369%20FINAL_Deboy.pdf</a><br>
<br>
Flexible Coherent Digital Transceiver for Low Power Space
Missions<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/Coherent%20Digital%20Transceiver%20Paper_Haskins.pdf">http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~tcase/Coherent%20Digital%20Transceiver%20Paper_Haskins.pdf</a><br>
<br>
THE NEW HORIZONS MISSION TO PLUTO: ADVANCES IN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DESIGN<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/IAF%202004%20New%20Horizons%20Advances%20in%20CommSysr1_Deboy.pdf">http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~tcase/IAF%202004%20New%20Horizons%20Advances%20in%20CommSysr1_Deboy.pdf</a><br>
<br>
A Regenerative Pseudonoise Range Tracking System for the New
Horizons Spacecraft<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/NH%20Regenerative%20PN%20Ranging%20Paper_Haskins.pdf">http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~tcase/NH%20Regenerative%20PN%20Ranging%20Paper_Haskins.pdf</a><br>
<br>
X-band Digital Receiver for the New Horizons Spacecraft<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/NH%20Uplink%20Card%20Paper_Haskins.pdf">http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~tcase/NH%20Uplink%20Card%20Paper_Haskins.pdf</a><br>
<br>
TNX es 73 de Ralph Wallio, W0RPK<br>
<br>
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