Cost and Reliability Study for a Large Array of Small Reflector Antennas for JPL/NASA Deep Space Network (DSN)

A study is performed to estimate the cost of an array of small aperture reflector antennas to be used instead or in conjunction with the current large reflector antennas of the JPL/NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), for servicing present and future NASA missions which involve smaller spacecraft with limited power and smaller, lower gain antennas. The advantages of the array configuration in terms of cost and reliability are studied. A probabilistic determination of the reliability and availability of the array as a function of the number of array elements and the availability of individual array elements is made. The impact of additional marginal elements on the operational availability of the array is studied. Parametric cost and reliability plots are presented and directions for further investigation are outlined.