TDRSS Model
The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) is a network of American communications satellites (each called a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)) and ground stations used by NASA for space communications. The system was designed to replace an existing network of ground stations that had supported all of NASA's manned flight missions. The prime design goal was to increase the time spacecraft were in communication with the ground and improve the amount of data that could be transferred. Many TDRS were launched in the 1980s and 1990s with the Space Shuttle and made use of the Inertial Upper Stage, a two-stage solid rocket booster developed for the shuttle. Other TDRS were launched by Atlas IIa and Atlas V rockets.
With the creation of the Space Shuttle in the mid-1970s, a requirement for a higher performance space-based communication system arose. The space segment of the new system would rely upon satellites in geostationary orbit. These satellites, by virtue of their position, could transmit and receive data to lower orbiting satellites and still stay within sight of the ground station.
The TDRSS has been used to provide data relay services to many orbiting observatories, and also to Antarctic facilities such as McMurdo Station by way of the TDRSS South Pole Relay. The US-built sections of the International Space Station (ISS) use TDRSS for data relay. TDRSS is also used to provide launch data relay for expendable boosters.
As early as 1989, it was reported that an important function of TDRSS was to provide data relay for the Lacrosse radar imaging reconnaissance satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Almost 20 years later, on 23 November 2007, an on-line trade publication noted, "While NASA uses the (TDRSS) satellites to communicate with the space shuttle and international space station, most of their bandwidth is devoted to the Pentagon, which covers the lion's share of TDRSS operations costs and is driving many of the system's requirements, some of them classified." - from Wikipedia.
Seen at the Stephen Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum, located near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, VA.
TDRSS Model
The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) is a network of American communications satellites (each called a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)) and ground stations used by NASA for space communications. The system was designed to replace an existing network of ground stations that had supported all of NASA's manned flight missions. The prime design goal was to increase the time spacecraft were in communication with the ground and improve the amount of data that could be transferred. Many TDRS were launched in the 1980s and 1990s with the Space Shuttle and made use of the Inertial Upper Stage, a two-stage solid rocket booster developed for the shuttle. Other TDRS were launched by Atlas IIa and Atlas V rockets.
With the creation of the Space Shuttle in the mid-1970s, a requirement for a higher performance space-based communication system arose. The space segment of the new system would rely upon satellites in geostationary orbit. These satellites, by virtue of their position, could transmit and receive data to lower orbiting satellites and still stay within sight of the ground station.
The TDRSS has been used to provide data relay services to many orbiting observatories, and also to Antarctic facilities such as McMurdo Station by way of the TDRSS South Pole Relay. The US-built sections of the International Space Station (ISS) use TDRSS for data relay. TDRSS is also used to provide launch data relay for expendable boosters.
As early as 1989, it was reported that an important function of TDRSS was to provide data relay for the Lacrosse radar imaging reconnaissance satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Almost 20 years later, on 23 November 2007, an on-line trade publication noted, "While NASA uses the (TDRSS) satellites to communicate with the space shuttle and international space station, most of their bandwidth is devoted to the Pentagon, which covers the lion's share of TDRSS operations costs and is driving many of the system's requirements, some of them classified." - from Wikipedia.
Seen at the Stephen Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum, located near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, VA.