DELTA-SIERRA MARS TOOL
Simplified Earth–Mars link-budget calculator
Understand why distance and frequency strongly affect an interplanetary link.
Essential answer
Free-space path loss grows with distance and frequency. Antenna gain offsets part of that loss, but received power alone does not guarantee a data rate.
Every value is editable. Scenario values are not an official NASA architecture.
Calculator
Method and limitations
This is only a power budget. A real DSN link analysis also treats system noise temperature, bandwidth, modulation/coding, C/N₀, Eb/N₀, margins, and availability. Prefilled gains and losses are editable scenarios.
Primary sources and evidence status
The calculation distinguishes physical relation, demonstrated value, standard, educational assumption, and Delta-Sierra scenario.
- JPL Deep Space Network — Telecommunications Link Design Handbook 810-005
Primary DSN technical handbook. This calculator stops at a simplified received-power budget and does not replace a full noise/SNR/data-rate link analysis.
Sources and further reading
Downloadable scenario data
Dataset v1.1 documents every prefilled value: unit, system boundary, time basis, evidence status, and source when one exists.