FIGARO (5G Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Relay Operations) High-Altitude Balloon Flight Test

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program has outlined lunar internet (LunaNet) requirements for beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications between lunar surface assets. These requirements include providing a Ka-band, high-resolution video link to relay between a dynamically moving Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) and stationary lunar habitat or Human Landing System (HLS). The NASA 5G Array for Lunar Relay Operation (FIGARO) project’s aim is to demonstrate this architecture using a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) hosting an active phased array (APA) antenna bent-pipe relay system to communicate between two ground terminals using 5G FR2 band beamforming integrated circuits. Fundamental objectives for this demonstration are successfully tracking the position of each terminal, establishing communications links between ground users via HAB relay, streaming high-resolution video, and transferring of > 100 MB of data between ground users. The successful demonstration of FIGARO’s flight payload shows this architecture is viable to meet LunaNet requirements for communication between lunar surface users without line-of-sight conditions.