{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,26]],"date-time":"2025-11-26T16:50:02Z","timestamp":1764175802986,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]],"date-time":"2025-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747612800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Algorithms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this study, we develop a simulation of Contact Graph Routing (CGR) for data communication between Mars, Earth, and relay satellites. Due to the changing of the satellites\u2019 distances to Mars and Earth, respectively, there are specific contact windows between NASA\u2019s Mars rovers and orbiting relay satellites, and specific contact windows between these relay satellites and NASA\u2019s global system of antennas on Earth. The barrier in communication develops delays caused by link propagation, so it needs a Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) for routing networks among the nodes (satellites and antennas), which is the concept of storing and forwarding data whenever the windows are open. We construct an efficient algorithm for CGR, which puts all objects into a general framework of numbered nodes, so that we can easily develop another application of a network with a larger number of nodes. Simulated data are generated randomly to mimic the unpredicted data volumes that are sent from Mars to Earth. We construct some cases involving delivering data for one Martian day, and the simulation performs well in carrying, storing, and forwarding data from Mars to Earth, even though the relay satellites are not able to contact Earth for a period of time.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/a18050293","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]],"date-time":"2025-05-19T11:54:26Z","timestamp":1747655666000},"page":"293","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A Simulation of Contact Graph Routing for Mars\u2013Earth Data Communication"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Basuki","family":"Suhardiman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Computational Science Master Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jawa Barat 40132, Indonesia"}]},{"given":"Kuntjoro Adji","family":"Sidarto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Mathematical Modeling and Simulation, PPMS (Pusat Pemodelan Matematika dan Simulasi) Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jawa Barat 40132, Indonesia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3239-0982","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Novriana","family":"Sumarti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Mathematical Modeling and Simulation, PPMS (Pusat Pemodelan Matematika dan Simulasi) Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jawa Barat 40132, Indonesia"},{"name":"Industrial and Financial Mathematics Research Group, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jawa Barat 40132, Indonesia"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"ESA (2024, December 01). Why Go to Mars? 2019. The Eropean Space Agency. Available online: https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ScienceExploration\/HumanandRoboticExploration\/Exploration\/WhygotoMars."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2024, December 01). NASA, Available online: https:\/\/eyes.nasa.gov\/apps\/mrn\/#\/mars."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2012.02.004","article-title":"Analysis of the contact graph routing algorithm: Bounding interplanetary paths","volume":"75","author":"Birrane","year":"2012","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Herkenhoff, K. (2024, December 01). Sol 1128: Twenty Minutes to Mars, Available online: https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/blog\/msl-update-2442\/."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Kugler, L. (2024, December 01). Direct-Dialing Mars?. Available online: https:\/\/cacm.acm.org\/news\/direct-dialing-mars\/."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Ormston, T. (2024, December 01). Time Delay Between Mars and Earth. Available online: https:\/\/blogs.esa.int\/mex\/2012\/08\/05\/time-delay-between-mars-and-earth\/."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1016\/j.comcom.2014.03.024","article-title":"Routing protocols in Vehicular Delay Tolerant Networks: A comprehensive survey","volume":"48","author":"Benamar","year":"2014","journal-title":"Comput. Commun."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Elewaily, D.I., Ali, H.A., Saleh, A.I., and Abdelsalam, M.M. (2024). Delay\/Disruption-Tolerant Networking-based the Integrated Deep-Space Relay Network: State-of-the-Art. Ad. Hoc. Netw., 152.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.adhoc.2023.103307"},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"NASA (2024, December 01). Mars Exploration Program Mars Relay Description for Discovery 2019 Proposals, Available online: https:\/\/discovery.larc.nasa.gov\/PDF_FILES\/21_Proposers_Guide_To_Mars_Orbiters_-_Discovery_2019_AO_-_Rev_190411b.pdf."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zurek, R., Tamppari, L., Johnston, M.D., Murchie, S., McEwen, A., Byrne, S., Seu, R., Putzig, N., Kass, D., and Malin, M. (2024). MRO overview: Sixteen years in Mars orbit. Icarus, 419.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2024.116102"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Burleigh, S.C. (2024, December 01). Contact Graph Routing: Draft-burleigh-dtnrg-cgr-01. Available online: https:\/\/datatracker.ietf.org\/doc\/html\/draft-burleigh-dtnrg-cgr-01."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fraire, J.A., De Jonck\u00e8re, O., and Burleigh, S.C. (2021). Routing in the Space Internet: A contact graph routing tutorial. J. Netw. Comput. Appl., 174.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jnca.2020.102884"},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"(2024, December 01). NASA, Available online: https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mars\/facts\/#h-size-and-distance."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Dobrijevic, D. (2024, December 01). 2025. Available online: https:\/\/www.space.com\/24701-how-long-does-it-take-to-get-to-mars.html."}],"container-title":["Algorithms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4893\/18\/5\/293\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:35:17Z","timestamp":1760031317000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4893\/18\/5\/293"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]]},"references-count":14,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5]]}},"alternative-id":["a18050293"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/a18050293","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4893"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1999-4893"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]]}}}