Space-Based Range

Space-Based Range (SBR), previously known as Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety (STARS), is a multicenter NASA proof-of-concept project to determine if space-based communications using NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) can support the Range Safety functions of acquiring tracking data and generating flight termination signals, while also providing broadband Range User data such as voice, video, and vehicle/payload data. There was a successful test of the Range Safety system at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on December 20, 2005, on a two-stage Terrier-Orion spin-stabilized sounding rocket. SBR transmitted GPS tracking data and maintained links with two TDRSS satellites simultaneously during the 10-min flight. The payload section deployed a parachute, landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles downrange from the launch site, and was successfully recovered. During the Terrier-Orion tests flights, more than 99 percent of all forward commands and more than 95 percent of all return frames were successfully received and processed. The time latency necessary for a command to travel from WFF over landlines to White Sands Complex and then to the vehicle via TDRSS, be processed onboard, and then be sent back to WFF was between 1.0 s and 1.1 s. The forward-link margins for TDRS-10 (TDRS East [TDE]) were 11 dB to 12 dB plus or minus 2 dB, and for TDRS-4 (TDRS Spare [TDS]) were 9 dB to 10 dB plus or minus 1.5 dB. The return-link margins for both TDE and TDS were 6 dB to 8 dB plus or minus 3 dB. There were 11 flights on an F-15B at Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) between November 2006 and February 2007. The Range User system tested a 184-element TDRSS Ku-band (15 GHz) phased-array antenna with data rates of 5 Mbps and 10 Mbps. This data was a combination of black-and-white cockpit video, Range Safety tracking and transceiver data, and aircraft and antenna controller data streams. IP data formatting was used.