Low-cost TDRSS communications for NASA´s Long Duration Balloon Project

A new low-cost non-space-qualified TDRSS user S-band transponder and RF ground support equipment have brought tracking and data relay satellite system (TDRSS) capabilities to a class of users who seek enhanced operations for low budget scientific investigations. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Wallops Flight Facility´s Long Duration Balloon Project (LDBP) will take advantage of the new TDRSS user hardware for communications through the TDRSS S-band multiple access system during around-the-world scientific balloon flight campaigns. The balloon-class TDRSS user transponder and the TDRSS user RF test set (TURFTS) both achieve better performance and increased capabilities than their predecessors at a reduced cost. The balloon transponder is one-tenth the cost of the current generation space-qualified transponder and TURFTS is less than one-half the cost of the currently available transponder test equipment