In this article, architectures for interplanetary communications that feature the use of a data relay are investigated. In the considered “two-leg” architecture, a spacecraft orbiting the Earth, or in orbit at a Lagrange point, receives data from a deep-space probe (leg-1) and relays them toward ground (leg-2). Different wireless technologies for the interplanetary link, namely, radio frequencies above the Ka band and optical frequencies, are considered. Moreover, the cases of transparent and regenerative relaying as well as different different orbital configurations are addressed, offering a thorough analysis of such systems from different viewpoints. Results show that, under certain constraints in terms of pointing accuracy and onboard antenna size, the adoption of a two-leg architecture can achieve the data rates supported by direct space-to-Earth link configurations with remarkably smaller ground station antennas.

中文翻译：

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两腿深空中继架构：性能、挑战和前景


在本文中，研究了使用数据中继的星际通信架构。在所考虑的“双腿”架构中，绕地球运行或在拉格朗日点轨道上运行的航天器从深空探测器（第一腿）接收数据并将其转发到地面（第二腿）。考虑了用于星际链路的不同无线技术，即Ka波段以上的无线电频率和光频率。此外，还讨论了透明和再生中继以及不同轨道配置的情况，从不同角度对此类系统进行了全面分析。结果表明，在指向精度和机载天线尺寸方面的一定限制下，采用两腿架构可以通过更小的地面站天线实现直接空地链路配置所支持的数据速率。