Thursday, March 7, 2024

Connecting Space Missions Through NGSO Constellations: Feasibility Study

 

Electrical Engineering and Systems Science > Systems and Control

Connecting Space Missions Through NGSO Constellations: Feasibility Study

A satellite internet provider (e.g., Starlink, OneWeb, O3b mPOWER), despite possessing the capability to provide internet services to on-ground users in a global scale, can dramatically change the way space missions are designed and operated in the foreseeable future. Assuming a scenario where space mission satellites can access the internet via a space internet system, the satellite can be connected to the network permanently (24x7) and act as mere terminal independently from its location.

The ability to communicate with the satellite on-demand has the potential to improve aspects such as real-time tasking, outage minimization, operation cost, and dependency on the ground. This paper performs a feasibility study on the concept of connecting space missions to the network through commercial mega-constellations. This study includes a review of existing and near-future space internet systems, identification of candidate space missions for the aforementioned concept, a necessary adaptation of existing Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) terminals to be plugged into space mission satellites, assessment of communication performance, and investigation of the legal aspects of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum usage.

The paper evidences that the concept is practically possible to implement in the near future. Among the studied space internet systems (i.e. Starlink, OneWeb, O3b mPOWER), O3b mPOWER stands out as the most suitable system allowing permanent coverage of low earth orbit (LEO) space missions with data rates that can reach up to 21 Mbps per satellite. Although the concept is very promising and can be implemented in the near future, our investigations show that some regulatory aspects regarding the RF usage should be solved for future exploitation of connecting space missions through NGSO constellations.
Subjects: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
Cite as: arXiv:2309.16589 [eess.SY]
  (or arXiv:2309.16589v3 [eess.SY] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2309.16589

Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/frcmn.2024.1356484

Submission history

From: Ali Georganaki [view email]
[v1] Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:46:01 UTC (6,000 KB)
[v2] Mon, 20 Nov 2023 05:58:10 UTC (6,421 KB)
[v3] Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:13:24 UTC (1,697 KB)

Summary

This paper investigates the feasibility of connecting space missions to satellite internet providers (SIPs) like Starlink, OneWeb, and O3b mPOWER. The key findings are:

  1. Earth observation missions are likely the best candidates to benefit from SIP connectivity due to their need to transfer large amounts of data quickly.
  2. Commercially available satellite terminals have great potential to be integrated into space mission satellites after some modifications for the space environment.
  3. Among the studied SIPs, O3b mPOWER stands out as the most suitable system allowing permanent coverage of low earth orbit space missions with data rates up to 21 Mbps.
  4. From a regulatory perspective, the current spectrum usage policy under the ITU regime does not allow interference-free operations for the proposed concept. However, potential changes during the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference could enable satellite-to-satellite links between SIPs and space missions.
  5. The concept of connecting space missions through SIPs is practically feasible in the near future but requires solving some regulatory aspects regarding radio frequency usage for full exploitation.

In summary, the paper provides a comprehensive feasibility analysis covering technical aspects like coverage, link budgets, terminal integration as well as investigating the crucial legal and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed.

ITU Regulatory Limitations

The paper identifies two main limits imposed by the current ITU regulatory framework on the proposed concept of connecting space missions through satellite internet providers (SIPs):

  1. Lack of suitable frequency allocations:
  • The SIP systems like Starlink, OneWeb, O3b mPOWER operate in Ka and Ku bands under the Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) allocations.
  • However, the FSS frequency allocations currently do not allow for space-to-space transmissions between the SIP constellation and space mission satellites.
  • The only option is to use Article 4.4 assignments, which are non-conforming assignments without international protection and must operate on non-interference and non-protection bases.
  1. Lack of interference protection:
  • Assignments under Article 4.4 lack international recognition and protection from harmful interference.
  • This increases the risk of interruptions and degrades the reliability of the space-based internet connectivity service.

WRC-23 Modifications

To overcome these limitations, the paper discusses the potential changes being considered at the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23):

  1. Allocation of Ka and Ku bands to the Inter-Satellite Service:
  • This would remove or mitigate the legal challenges stemming from Article 4.4 non-conforming assignments.
  • Depending on whether Inter-Satellite Service is included as primary or secondary, it would provide more or less interference protection.
  1. Addition of space-to-space transmissions within existing FSS allocations:
  • This appears to be the more likely outcome based on Agenda Item 1.17 discussions.
  • It would allow satellite-to-satellite links between SIPs and space missions to operate within the existing FSS frequency allocations.
  • However, it imposes the "within the cone" concept, meaning the links must operate within the declared service area of the SIP constellation filing.

The paper concludes that the potential WRC-23 changes introducing space-to-space allocations within FSS bands would be a major step forward, providing adequate legal protection and enabling more reliable provision of satellite internet services to space missions.

Authors

  1. Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 
    1. Houcine Chougrani*, houcine.chougrani@uni.lu
    2. Ali Georganaki,
    3. Jan Thoemel, 
    4. Mahulena Hofmann
    5. Symeon Chatzinotas
  2. Société Européenne des Satellites, SES S.A., Betzdolf, Luxembourg, 
    1. Oltjon Kodheli, 
    2. Chiara Vittoria Turtoro, 
  3. European Space Agency (ESA), Paris, France 
    1. Frank Zeppenfeldt,
    2. Petros Pissias, 

 




 

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