Abstract :
One of the key issues of a radioastronomic and SETI mission in the Saha Crater is a data link which does not contribute to the radio pollution in the moon far side environment. The link must connect the radiotelescope, on the floor of the Saha crater to the radio station on Mare Smithii, 340 km away. If we wait for a permanent outpost to be established on the Moon, there will be little difficulty to lay out the system, but this would greatly delay the scientific return. Five different solutions, which can be implemented in the near future, are studied in the present paper: a tether connecting the two landers, a cable shot from the radiotelescope or deposited by a rover, three laser relay stations deposited by a rover and three laser stations, mounted on small rovers landed at prescribed positions. The last three alternatives can be implemented using walking rovers of the twin rigid-frames type. The paper studies in some detail the issue of designing the relevant rovers and performs a comparison of the various alternatives. As a result the landing of the laser relay stations in a suitable place located not too far from the optimal position for transmitting and receiving and then their precise positioning using walking rovers is found to be the simplest, cheapest and safest way to establish the data link.
