Efficient and Secure Communications for Spacecraft Beyond LEO

Communications and navigation among distributed spacecraft and between spacecraft and the Earth become quite challenging beyond Low Earth Orbit distances. Additionally, new classes of missions may require assets that are able to regularly coordinate among themselves with minimal ground intervention in order to achieve complex mission objectives. Antararsquo;s proposed effort will apply an Evolutionary Strategy to Ramp;D and evolve the functional and performance capabilities of Antararsquo;s current technology to enable scalable, efficient, and cyber-secure collaborative communications for widely distributed SmallSat that will operate far into the near-Earth region of space and beyond into deep space. Antararsquo;s cross-cutting communication software will be compatible with existing and planned NASA architecture (e.g., Scan and LunaNet), the Internal Communication System Interoperability Standards (ICSIS), applicable CCSDS books and will support the lunar communications architecture, as described in IOAGrsquo;s evolving ldquo;The Future Lunar Communications Architecture.rdquo; The proposed technology will enable coordination among multiple lunar surface and orbiting users and provide data relay from lunar surface to surface as well as data relay to earth with high integrity, provenance and confidentiality. The innovation is directly relevant to NASA TA 4.5.4, 5.3.1, 5.3.3, and 11.4.8 and will support and advance the lunar communications architecture and the Moon to Mars Campaign. The resulting flight demonstration ready software will be compatible with existing NASA space communications infrastructure, frequency spectrum allocations, and applicable standards. Antararsquo;s overall deliverables and artifacts will achieve sufficient maturity and include appropriate documentation to allow it to be instantiated, configured, and tested with potential NASA missions and be considered as a payload for flight demonstration.