Iturralde home page > Satellite Phone
Satellite Phone for the Iturralde mission
When it is time for the Goddard NASA team at the Iturralde site
to communicate with the outside world, an impressive array of
technology will be brought into play. The main stay will be NASA’s
Tracking and Data Relay Satellites System (TDRSS), an array of
geosynchronous satellites orbiting on the equator at 22,300 miles
altitude. The main business of TDRSS is to relay information to
and from satellites at an incredible rate. The system can move
data at a rate of about 15,000 encyclopedia pages per second or,
more technically, 300 million bits per second. The system will
easily handle data from the scientists at the Iturralde structure
On the ground, with the expedition, will be Communications Specialist
Shane Keating from Goddard NASA. Shane will be using a Macintosh
G3 Powerbook. Ultimately the signal enters the TDRSS system. It
moves through the system and is transmitted to the White Sands
Ground Terminal in White Sands, New Mexico, whence it is sent
on to Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. At Goddard,
the data is dispersed to the appropriate sites, one of which,
during satellite phone sessions, will be the WWW through this
web page.
For a diagram of how the communications link will work, click here.