Transforming the deep space network into the Interplanetary Network

Abstract Space exploration missions are undergoing a significant transformation as are the expectations of their scientific investigators and the public who participate in these great voyages of exploration. The early reconnaissance missions are giving way to a new data-intensive era of long duration observational outposts, landed vehicles, sample returns, and multi-spacecraft fleets and constellations. Mars exploration has already become a special case of the new operational mode; other destinations will follow. These changes will require orders of magnitude increases in data rates, highly automated and standardized data communications between the remote locations and Earth, more transparent and responsive mission operations procedures, and the ability to engage the public by giving them Internet-based visibility into the missions as they unfold. The new area will demand a new paradigm for the Deep Space Network, with increased emphasis on data networking and the data processing applications that allow users to become more intimately engaged with the conduct of the mission. We call this new paradigm the Interplanetary Network. Its vision is seamless connectivity between scientists and their instruments, new data analysis and visualization tools that will greatly enhance and enable new modes of space exploration, and the involvement of the public via web-based “telepresence.”