X-Ray Communication for Space Borne Missions

This paper investigates and discusses the preliminary feasibility of X-ray communication (XCOM) in Martian dust environment. During the dust storms, typical communication signals are attenuated, thus X-rays are investigated as mode of communication due to their higher penetration. Martian atmosphere has been modeled and simulated using Monte Carlo simulation code OpenMC. The transmission characteristics of X-ray beams have been evaluated. The results show lower attenuation in XCOM energy level for a specific source as compared to the optical communication. Furthermore, A transmission percentage of more than 80% has been achieved for a distance up to 3 km for a source of 200keV.