Benchmarking the future of RF in space missions: From low earth orbit to deep space

This paper reports on an internal study carried out at the European Space Agency (ESA) for assessing the reference performance of Payload Data Transmitters achieved in the mid-term. This assessment is meant to provide input to the ESA roadmaps for the 2023 time frame. The assessment is carried out for various space missions, from low Earth to deep space orbits. Taking advantage of technology evolution combined with innovative architectures and advanced digital signal processing, the paper shows how the data return in several space missions can be dramatically increased by reasonably extrapolating existing RF technology.