A short 50 years ago, Arthur C. Clarke introduced the world to the idea of satellite communications. Today, our current communication system uses satellites and thus, much of the economy, relies on these networks. As NASA focuses on renewing its efforts to Mars, a martian satellite network would provide a flexible communication system for future missions. The goal of this project is to outline a robust communication infrastructure for high-speed data communications between Earth and Mars ground terminals. The project description for this task can be found here. A summary of the requirements are shown in the table below:

Table 1. Project Requirement Summary

This project is divided into five major sections, with Communication Links having four subsections:

1. Basic Concept
2. Communication Links
   a. Modulation
   b. Mars-Earth Link
   c. Satellite-Terminal Link
   d. Satellite-Satellite Link
3. System Design
4. Satellite Orbit
5. Cost