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Loading contentA fleet of geostationary relay satellites that give near-Earth spacecraft — including the ISS and Hubble — near-continuous contact with the ground, instead of only during the few minutes of a ground-station pass. TDRS is the space-based half of NASA's Near Space Network.
communication_system:tdrsDataset membership
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How Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRS) connects across Asteria Star — scientific, cultural, and astrological links are kept separate.
NASA's network of ground stations and relay satellites (formerly the Space Network's TDRSS and the Ground Network) that supports missions in Earth orbit and near-Earth space.
A lower-frequency microwave band long used for spacecraft command and low-rate telemetry, and for near-Earth links. Robust and less affected by weather than higher bands, but limited in data rate.
A higher-frequency band that carries much more data than X-band for the same antenna, at the cost of greater sensitivity to rain and pointing. Increasingly used for high-rate science downlink from deep space.
NASA's technology demonstration of laser communication from deep space, flying as a rider on the Psyche spacecraft. It transmitted data over tens of millions of kilometres at rates far beyond radio, proving optical links for future missions.
A NASA optical-communication relay in geostationary orbit that demonstrates two-way laser links between ground stations and spacecraft, a stepping stone toward operational optical relays in the Near Space Network.
The end-to-end function every mission depends on: downlinking telemetry (spacecraft health and science), measuring the signal for tracking and navigation, and uplinking commands. The deep-space and near-Earth networks exist to provide TT&C.
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Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.