Payload Design - GEO

Orbits and Trajectories

Now we need to decide how we wish to "interact" with the subject of our mission. The subject is a communication dish (or dishes) on the ground. Designers are looking at three different approaches for the payload and the general data architecture:

1. High power transmitters on the spacecraft able to send medium data rates to smaller, mobile dishes on the ground

2. Lower power transmitters on the spacecraft able to send medium data rates to large, fixed dishes on the ground

3. High power transmitters, with a directional antenna on the spacecraft able to send high data rate to a few fixed dishes on the ground

Discuss the pro's and con's of each of these options along with the implications for the payload (transponder) design, and the associated impact on users of the system.