Citation
Abstract
The Deep Space Network (DSN) is the primary means of commanding, tracking, and receiving data from all of NASA’s deep space missions as well as a number of deep space missions operated by other international space agencies. Standard DSN operations involves developing a schedule for when each mission will be contacted. For a variety of reasons, a scheduled track for a mission may be missed. A long-standing question has been what the consequences are of such missed tracks. This document develops two metrics for assessing the consequence of a missed track, one scientific and one financial. The scientific metric is motivated by the fact that the DSN was developed to enable robotic science missions. The scientific metric uses the number of peer-reviewed scientific papers produced by a mission and the number of hours that the DSN tracks the mission. In effect, the science metric is an effort to measure the advance of knowledge about the Sun, Solar System, and the Universe and relate that to the amount of DSN time used. While the science metric varies, depending upon the science focus of the mission, typical values range between approximately one scientific paper produced per hour of DSN tracking time and one scientific paper produced per 10 hr of DSN time. The financial metric recognizes that there are costs associated with operating both the DSN and the missions. The financial metric uses estimates of the (future) cost of operating NASA’s robotic science missions to assess the financial implications of operating a mission while unable to communicate with its spacecraft. As above, the financial metric varies depending upon the scientific focus, but, averaged across NASA, a missed DSN track incurs approximately an extra $100,000 per hour in mission operations costs.
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Details
- Volume
- 42-243
- Published
- November 15, 2025
- Pages
- 1–19
- File Size
- 0.4 MB