Dr Malcolm Macdonald and team have found a new way to enable continuous communication from Earth to Mars with just one spacecraft, communications previously not possible for several weeks at a time when the sun obscures the Earth's view of Mars.

The finding is being released this week at the 60th International Astronautical Congress, the world’s biggest space conference, being held in Daejeon, Korea. It is part of a €100,000 study funded by the European Space Agency to investigate how new and emerging technologies could be used to radically enhance space science, from greatly improving telecommunications to enabling Arctic monitoring.

The research centres around 'Lagrange points' – five areas in space where an object such as a satellite or observatory can stay fixed in the same location relative to the Earth and Sun. The team has investigated how emerging space technologies can be used in Lagrange points one and two to open up new possibilities for future missions.

Dr Macdonald said: "One of the key barriers to manned exploration of Mars is communication. When the sun obscures the Earth's view of Mars, it also prevents any possibility of ground controllers making contact with astronauts.

"But by moving a spacecraft with a continuous thrusting propulsion system into Lagrange point one, we’ve calculated that it’s possible to enable continuous communication from the Earth to the spacecraft, and from the spacecraft to the surface of Mars.

"We’ve also shown that by using a similar technique but with two spacecraft, we can further improve communications. Hovering directly above Mars limits communications to just one polar region. But by using two spacecraft, we can enable communication to a much wider area of the planet."

The research was based on potential evolutions of the T6 Thruster technology being developed for the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury, due to set off in 2014.

Dr Macdonald continued: "Currently, every spacecraft we have is in orbit about Mars. But this is not necessary – we can use the Lagrange points and low-thrust propulsion to keep spacecraft in a fixed position.

"Our research has shown that we have a whole catalogue of space science opportunities available in the next ten to fifteen years by using technologies that are already in the pipeline. This can include everything from new space missions, to continually monitoring the effects of climate change on the arctic. Our aim is to challenge conventional ideas and enable radical change in the near term."

Dr Macdonald carried out the research with Dr Robert Mackay, Professor Colin McInnes and Dr James Biggs at the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, Francois Bosquillon de Frescheville at the European Space Agency’s European Space Operations Centre and Dr Massimiliano Vasile at the University of Glasgow. The work was funded by the European Space Agency’s General Studies Program.

The news comes ahead of a week of major space events at the University of Strathclyde from Tuesday 20 October. They include two industry events to bring together the UK’s leading space companies and academics to look at future areas of research collaboration. The week will also include the opening of a pioneering space concepts laboratory and a public lecture will be given by Professor David Southwood, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency.

The University of Strathclyde's Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory is home to some of the UK's leading space engineers carrying out frontier research on visionary space systems.