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Posted by robert casey on June 17, 2007, 6:33 pm
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Harvey wrote:
> Hi
> Can someone out there please help or suggest references
> I am carrying out a short feasibility study regarding Jupiter's moon
> Io. Io has an atmosphere of plasma containing Sulphur and Oxygen
> ions.
> Since Io is in Jupiter's magnetosphere the ions will circulate around
> the magnetic field lines. Calculating the resulting cyclotron
> frequency shows that it is far removed from the communications
> frequency link.
>
> What will be the effect of the Plasma on data communication:-
> a) Between probes on the Io surface
> b) Between an orbiter around Io and a probe on the Io surface
Likely depends on the carrier frequency you want to use. Ham radio
operators make use of frequencies below 30Mhz (shortwave) and the
Earth's ionosphere to do world wide communications. Shortwave bounces
off the ionosphere (or at least enough so we can hear each other, some
shortwave may leak out to space). But higher frequencies, like 150Mhz,
go right thru the ionosphere and are not reflected. So some frequencies
might be useful if you want probes sitting on Io to talk to each other,
but you'll want other frequencies in other bands for talking to an
orbiter or direct to Earth. The "ionosphere" around Io and that area
may need different frequencies.
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