Hi, my name is Matthew Fogel and I have recently been moved from the Lunar Rover to the Lunar Lander team. My specific field of responsibilities consists of the Lander's communications sub-system and it's relationship with the Deep Space Network. I am currently working on researching and selecting a low power X-Band (7.1 GHz) transmitter, an X-Band LNB for the satellite dish, what color depth the video feed needs to be, and calculating the minimum dish diameter feasible based on power consumption.

Our goal is to optimize the current communications systems that has been previously selected for the Omega Envoy.

Alberto Bird and myself have also been assigned to research Ka-Band options for high power transmission. Ka-Band transfers at a much higher frequency (34 GHz) than X-Band, but interestingly enough uses less power and requires a smaller dish diameter. Though in the past they have not, NASA has recently started to support Ka-Band transmission for the Deep Space Network, potentially allowing our team to save on power and weight consumption.

- Matt Fogel