An Interplanetary and Interagency Network - Lander Communications at Mars

The Mars Express Lander Communications subsystem (MELACOM) was initially designed as a relay for communications with the BEAGLE-2 lander. The failure of the landing over Christmas 2003 made its attempted use with BEAGLE-2 from January to February 2004 unsuccessful. However, intrinsic to the design was the capability for cross-support with other landers via the implementation of version 2 of the draft Proximity-1 protocol, CCSDS 211.0-R-2, which was designed to ensure reliable data transfer between remote autonomous communication nodes operating in close proximity. Reliability of the