NASA's Space Communications and Networking (SCaN) Testbed
The Space Communications and Networking (SCaN) Testbed (STB) is a flight and ground system designed and built at NASA's Glenn Research Center. As its name suggests, the SCaN Testbed is a technical and programmatic advancement of communications technology that will pave the way for future space-communication architectures. It consists of reconfigurable software-defined radios that give mission planners the ability to change radio functionality while on orbit.
Transcript
00:00:06 NASA is on a quest to explore the infinite Universe to understand its origin and our world the space Communications and navigation program or scan is connecting the universe by building a Communications infrastructure that is the central nervous system of NASA oh [Music]
00:00:47 [Music] 5 4 3 2 1 [Music] the test bet operates from the exterior truss on the International Space Station the scan test bet facility uses a new generation of softwar defined radio technologies that will allow researchers to develop test and demonstrate new Communications networking and navigation
00:02:00 capabilities in the actual environment of space it will advance space communication Technologies to support future NASA emissions new software can be uploaded which reconfigures the radios after launch this enables a multitude of functions adaptable to meet Mission requirements wherever the destination missions will be able to
00:02:28 return more scientific information with new software loads that can add new functions or accommodate changing Mission needs some of which might not be envisioned before launch experiments are being developed over the next several years that will utilize the orbiting scan test bet for future exploration it will join other NASA Network assets to help build capabilities for a new
00:02:51 generation of space Communications scan's vision is to develop a 21st century Integrated Network architecture for communication ations and navigation that will enable existing and future NASA science and exploration missions space Communications is essential to explore our world other planets and the universe without it space exploration would not be possible
00:03:19 scin keeping the universe connected [Music]