Modeling of a Planetary Relay Station in Improving Deep-Space Probe Telecommunication Performance

For a deep-space probe(DSP), such as the Voyager, over an extremely far distance to transmit data back to Earth more efficiently, a model that adds one planet-based repeater(PBR) in the transmission path is developed. Firstly, a general model of the direct transmission link of any DSP is analyzed. Secondly, a general model of the relayed link is evaluated, with special cases considered. Then the simulation is conducted based on available technologies and statistics, and the results of the performance optimize the model and validate that the relayed link is effective. The conclusion is reached that, under certain constraints, a PBR located on Mars could provide the highest performance advantage over the direct link.