NASA Space Communications Questions

Manned space exploration problems come in many forms. Besides worrying about dying from radiation, there are many more ordinary problems that must be overcome before we can reach of the skies. One of those problems concerns communications. It turns out that the near instantaneous communications enjoyed by astronauts living in the International Space Station is not going to work the same way when going to the nearest asteroid. or to Mars, or beyond, because the delays caused by the vast distances create problems for everyone involved. For example, if we ever send astronauts to asteroids, there will be a five second delay from the time the controllers send out a message and the the time the astronauts hear the message. Now that does not seem like such an issue, and it isn't when everything is going according to plan, but what happens when things don't go according to plan? Even more difficult, will be the five minute delay between the time ground controllers send a message and the time the astronauts get it on Mars. Consequently, NASA has been working on experiments designed to train both astronauts and ground controllers on how to deal with such issues.

On May 15, 2012, members of the Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) began running simulator tests designed to find out what will happen to communications when astronauts finally reach the Lagrange Point, the nearest asteroid, or even Mars, and then are attempting to develop better ways to deal with the problems of timed delay communications. Using games like finding an Easter egg filled with candy hidden in a mock-up of a spacecraft to simulate the loss of an important piece of equipment, is just one of the ways the simulations are being conducted. As one Mission Manager pointed out on the NASA website, "It's a fun task, but mimics real-life scenario."

Rex Walheim, one of the astronauts taking part of the study, stated that once a fifty second delay is reached in both directions, "You can either press on autonomously, or wait for the ground to tell you what to do during an off nominal situation." Rex also reported the egg was found and the contents successfully consumed. 

So the next time you use your cell phone to call your friend, try the same experiment by using a timer to delay the communications by three seconds for each exchange and you too can experience what it will be like to be an astronaut heading to the moon and beyond!