MARS LINK TIMING SHEET
Learning aid: propagation time and transmission duration
https://yenra.com/international-interplanetary-communications-network/
Prepared October 13, 2026

Use stated hypothetical inputs. This is not a mission planning or link-budget tool.

1. SIGNAL TRAVEL TIME
Earth-Mars distance (km): __________________
Rounded signal speed: 300,000 km/s
One-way time (seconds) = distance / 300,000
One-way time (minutes) = seconds / 60
Ideal immediate-reply round trip = 2 x one-way time

Worked example: 180,000,000 km / 300,000 km/s = 600 s = 10 min.
An immediate response returns after another 10 min: 20 min total.
Assumes immediate sending, action and reply; ignores processing and contact waits.

2. TRANSMISSION DURATION
Data volume (megabits): ____________________
Constant data rate (megabits per second): ____________________
Duration (seconds) = volume / rate
Example: 100 megabits / 1 megabit per second = 100 seconds.
Use bits consistently: one byte contains eight bits. These examples use decimal
mega (one million). Protocol overhead, interruptions and retries are excluded.

3. ADD CONTEXT
Which link does the data rate describe? ___________________________
Next relay or Earth downlink opportunity: _________________________
Other processing or scheduling delays: ____________________________
Are the timestamps acquisition, receipt or public release? __________

Propagation time and transmission duration describe different things.
Do not report either one alone as the total time to receive a complete product.
For maintained mission context: https://science.nasa.gov/mars/mars-relay-network/