Our data acquisition array requires 12288 digitizers sampling at around 450 Ksps. A comparable terrestrial model is offered by National Semiconductor as part number ADC081S051CIMF at $0.96 a piece in bulk. Total cost: $12000. According to an Acqiris representative, space-certified components are much more expensive (Sometimes more than 1000%) than their terrestrial counterparts, often custom-made by aerospace contractors. We estimate that the ADC component of the data acquisition array along with assembly will cost $200,000.
Mixers
For the observer station, 2*12288 mixers will be needed. Mini Circuits offers the SIM-153LH+ which covers DC-4 GHz for about $10 each. For a terrestrial application, this would cost us about $250k. For space-certified mixers, we estimate $2.5 million.
LPFs
We also require 12288 LPFs. Mini Circuits sells many surface mount LPFs which go for about $4 a piece. Terrestrially, this would cost about $50,000. For space, we estimate $500,000.
Oscillators
From Mini Circuits, VCOs of all ranges seem to go for about $25 each. While our design should make use of a centralized oscillator, we'll estimate this is what we'll have to pay for each channel: about $300k total. For space-certified, we estimate $3 million.
Turbo Coders, Decoders, QAM demodulators
Implemented in FPGAs, we estimate that each FPGA can handle 8 streams, concurrently modulating QAM & TurboCoding or demodulating/decoding. Companies like Nallatech are currently working with aerospace firms such as Northrop Grumman to develop space-certified platforms. Given a terrestrial price, on average, of $50 a chip, we estimate space-certified chips to be $500 a piece. We need (code & decode) 2*12288/8 of them, which brings us to about $1.5 million. We estimate the total cost of board design, development and deployment to approach $3.25 million.
Misc. Parts & Circuit Development
Board fabrication, testing, and certification will likely cost $1 million excluding component cost largely tallied above. Miscellaneous, smaller volume parts, such as LNAs, power amplifiers, and band pass filters will probably cost another $1 million.
Antennas
Based on related estimates on ViaSat's airplane satellite links, we estimate that each satellite antenna, will cost $1 million. With a transmit terminal at the observatory, two antennas on the moon satellite, and three antenna on each of the earth satellites (point towards earth, points to another satellite, and towards moon), antenna costs should run about $12 million total.
Launch Costs
Launching 4 satellites @ $150 million each yields a total placement cost of $600 million.
Power Costs
Our moon->moon satellite link consumes 1000 W: it costs $1 billion.
Our moon satellite->earth link consumes 1 W: it costs $1 million.
Because the handling of our Earth satellites is out of our control, we cannot provide numbers at this time.
Total Costs
$200k + $2.5 million + $500k + $3 million + $3.25 million + $1 million + $12 million + $600 million + $1 billion + $1 million = $1.62075 billion
