Data transport concepts for future NASA spacecraft

The anticipated increase in data quantity from NASA spacecraft over the next decade is expected to far exceed the capability of the present NASA data/information system to effectively manage and process that data. Conceptual designs aimed at providing more responsive and cost-effective methods for transporting and interpreting space-generated data are presented. Details of the Modular Data Transport System (MDTS) and Ancillary Data and Support Computing (ADSC) efforts done under the NASA End-to-End Data System (NEEDS) program are discussed. The common 'thread' throughout the data transport process involves the use of packet telemetry. Characteristics and benefits of packet telemetry are presented along with a discussion of techniques for generating and advantages of including ancillary data in each packet.