Admittedly, the Pentagon's blue skies research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is pursuing an ambitious drone project to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and "communication missions over an area of interest" for five or more years at a time.
They also employ geostationary relay satellites for continuous communication with mission controllers on the ground and satellite-based positioning systems for navigation.
They also took about 23 kg (50 pounds) of rock and soil samples, took many photographs, and maintained constant communication with mission control in Houston, Texas.
The spacecraft won't be in communication with mission control at the time, because it will be busy snapping MU69 as it whizzes past.
The astronauts aboard the shuttle Columbia lived for nearly a minute and perhaps longer after their final communication with mission control -- well after signs of serious trouble, people within NASA and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said.
As with every business, efficient and effective communication is mission critical.
Communication between mission planners, operators, and defenders is complicated if it can occur at all (e.g., "need to know" restrictions)—because planners focus on the mission, while operators and defenders focus on resources.
Communication between mission control and the crew will have an automatically enforced delay of as long as 20 minutes to account for the distance between Earth and the capsule during its 100 million-mile jaunt.
Communication with Mission Control is lost shortly thereafter.
According to the literature, clear communication of mission and goals among the various providers and positive relationships between them promotes cooperation, which contributes to the ultimate success of an endeavour [ 12, 39, 41- 43].
