NASA's NetworKing

[HTower]

Has anyone else ever seen this program? It runs right in your browser, no download needed. It is a simulation to help the player understand the various networks of satellites flying , and what they do. Without these satellites, many of the missions we undertake in BASPM would have no means of communications between Ground control and the various orbiters, manned spacecraft and landers.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resou ... rking.html

Any chance that we might have to create our own network of satellites to support our missions? Right now communications are kind of taken as a given, we don't have to work for it.

[NASAIsAwesome]

Has anyone else ever seen this program? It runs right in your browser, no download needed. It is a simulation to help the player understand the various networks of satellites flying , and what they do. Without these satellites, many of the missions we undertake in BASPM would have no means of communications between Ground control and the various orbiters, manned spacecraft and landers.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resou ... rking.html

Any chance that we might have to create our own network of satellites to support our missions? Right now communications are kind of taken as a given, we don't have to work for it.

Here's when the debate of Realism vs Gameplay comes in.
We want it to be a realistic space program simulator, similar to top titles like Cruise Line Tycoon and whatnot, but we don't want to make it a boring game with you powerlessly answering to politicans, facing constant budget cuts, and having to deal with communication failures and trival mission failures over and over.

For now, I think that communication in the Earth-Moon system should not require any satellites, nor should communication interplanetaryily between probes.

But as lunar colonies and Mars missions are factored into the game, yes, there should be a massive communications network which has you launch satellites or face a reliability penalty.

[MikeH]

All NASA manned missions up to and including Apollo relied on ground station network to communicate with spacecraft. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System was not deployed until the 1980s. So, for historical accuracy, money should be spent on the ground-based network first. It will be nice to have as an option, though, that would have a positive impact on mission reliability.