NASA's Deep Space Network under pressure

[Francois Cellier]

From the New Scientist

NASA's Deep Space Network under pressure

11:55 23 May 2006
Kelly Young
NewScientist.com news service


A “vital asset” for communicating with spacecraft in deep space is at risk, highlights a new report investigating NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN).

This communications network for deep space missions may face challenges in keeping up with demand in the coming years, concludes the report released on Monday by the US Government Accountability Office – the investigative arm of Congress.

"GAO has given us a wake-up call that a vital national asset is at risk – one that will be critical to the success both of NASA's future deep space science missions as well as the president's Vision for Space Exploration," says Congressman Mark Udall, who requested the investigation. The Vision for Space Exploration is President Bush's plan to return humans to the Moon.

"I was asked to look at this thing [because] there was concern that all the attention and money was going towards the Vision," Allen Li, who conducted the GAO investigation, told New Scientist.


Near-term demands

Established in 1959, the Deep Space Network is comprised of 16 primary antennas at three sites around the world – Goldstone, California, US; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain. It is currently able to keep up with most of its workload – communicating with spacecraft exploring the solar system and bringing back their science data.

However, the new report notes that “serious questions exist as to whether it will be able to keep up with both near-term and future demands”.

Some routine operations have already been affected by ageing of the network. For example, corrosion on a sub reflector of the 70-metre dish in Madrid led to a communications outage during a key phase of the comet-crashing Deep Impact mission in July 2005. Programme managers shifted to back-up ground stations, but that resulted in other missions being sidelined at that time.

Then in October 2005, corrosion to a power line led to a major power disruption, causing several Goldstone antennas to stop working for several hours, losing an unknown amount of science data. Goldstone, which has some of the oldest equipment in the network, is not operational for an average of 16 hours per week due to age-related maintenance and repairs.


Doubled load

Officials are worried that metal fatigue might lead to a huge antenna failure. "Ultimately such a failure would result from a partial or total collapse of an antenna structure," the report stated.

And new missions will require even more communications power. The report warns: “The potential for more significant system failure and major disruption to the deep space exploration program, both manned and unmanned, looms large if nothing is done to address the condition of the DSN.”

DSN communicates with an average of 35 to 40 spacecraft each year, but is expected to support twice as many missions by 2020.


Impossible demand

The report noted that since 2002 NASA has deferred spending about $30 million annually for maintenance work on the DSN. This was mostly earmarked for secondary infrastructure, such as roads at the facilities – not the antennas themselves.

The report recommended that NASA conduct long-term planning to address gaps in the network’s current capabilities and mission requirements.

"The fact is that DSN does not have infinite capability, and it will be impossible to meet all of the potential demands of all of the potential users all of the time," NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said in a written response to the report. She also noted that NASA has not lost a mission due to DSN issues and no mission to date has failed to meet its requirements due to DSN.

[Francois Cellier]

You may wonder why I posted this story under "Peak Oil" and "the economy." I had a reason for this.

What we see here is one of the first stories about a pending failure of a service that may not be viewed as critical by the current administration. As fossil fuels become scarce and therefore expensive, there won't be enough money any longer to maintain all aspects of the current infrastructure. First, those facilities will be allowed to fail that are considered of least importance, but as the screw tightens, more and more even critical services will be allowed to fall into disrepair.

The end to cheap oil doesn't lead, in my view, to an instantaneous breakdown of all services. It leads first to sporadic and localized shortages and delivery delays. Yet, the real challenge comes later. When resources get more and more strained, there won't be resources available to repair facilities that are breaking down, and later, there won't be resources available to produce the tools that are needed to repair facilities that are breaking down. It is a slow downward spiral, and no-one can predict with any authority where it will bottom out.

The particular case of the DSN could, of course, be fixed easily at the current time. A few million dollars are small change for the government of the U.S. It doesn't happen, because our f..ked up administration prefers to throw money away in Iraq, rather than keeping the domestic infrastructure going.

Yet in the longer run, we shall read more and more about failing services, because "the priorities are set differently."

[thaanatos]

some priorities should be set differently....for example, let's get rid of this "Vision for Space Exploration" business....and concentrate on some other goal, like going E85 or something......