AeroAstro's X-band transponder meeting the communication needs of tomorrow's small spacecraft

This paper discusses technologies and design philosophies leveraged from commercial industry that AeroAstro has applied to the development of a new spacecraft communications subsystem. Despite a recent push toward reducing spacecraft mass and cost, there is no commercially available communications equipment that will significantly contribute to that reduction. While spacecraft mass has dropped more than an order of magnitude in the past ten years, radios have not followed this trend. AeroAstro is developing a highly integrated, power-efficient, low operating voltage X-Band telemetry transponder for microsatellites. This design leverages emerging technology from the telecommunications industry, using RF components developed for digital wireless communications and Direct Broadcast Entertainment. Through these advances, and continuing development in a few key areas, AeroAstro's transponder is designed to provide low-cost, low-voltage, and low-mass earth-to-space communications. Flexibility is key to the design philosophy, and the communications equipment can be configured to satisfy a wide variety of missions.