NASA activates UHF SDR aboard MRO

On Monday, 6 November 2006, the Electra software-defined UHF transponder aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was activated in order to relay communications to and from the Spirit rover on the surface of Mars.

During the 4.2 minute MRO pass, 31 megabits of data from Spirit were acquired at a return link rate of 128 kilobits per
second while simultaneously sending a small forward-link file to the rover.

This is the first deep-space use of a software-defined radio
by NASA.

Jan, WB6VRN

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