How will IBEX communicate data?
IBEX will complete one orbit every five to eight days, depending upon conditions at launch. Each orbit, there is a period of time when the spacecraft is inside Earth’s magnetosphere. This is an ideal time to communicate with Earth because, being close to the Earth, it does not take a lot of power to send signals back and forth. It uses antennae that are attached to the outside of the spacecraft to send radio signals to receivers on Earth. Due to the rotation of the Earth each day, the IBEX team needs a global network of receivers so that no matter how the satellite and Earth are lined up, there is a receiver available to accept the signal. IBEX has partnered with the Universal Space Network, which is designed to arrange receiving communications from many other missions and satellites. IBEX is never further away from Earth than the Moon, so it takes a second or less for signals to travel between the spacecraft and Earth. However, IBEX data transfer rates are slow compared with other tel
