Resource Aware Space Mission Routing

Lifetime is one of the most critical issues in space applications. In Mars exploration missions, rovers are assumed to move in concentric circles, sense useful information and send it to a stationary mother ship at the center. They use solar energy during the day and rely on batteries at night. Due to the scarcity of energy on Mars, a routing protocol that is efficient in exploiting the rover resources, including its energy, is needed to manage communication at night. This paper proposes a resource aware routing protocol that will help extending the lifetime of Mars exploration missions. Simulation results showed that the proposed space mission routing protocol increases the lifetime of the mission, the packet delivery fraction and fairness among rovers.