NASA Ground-Breaking Unearths New Generation of Deep Space Network Antennas

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jia-rui.c.cook@jpl.nasa.gov

Katherine Trinidad 202-358-1100
Headquarters, Washington
katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2010-065 February 25, 2010

NASA GROUND-BREAKING UNEARTHS NEW GENERATION OF DEEP SPACE
NETWORK ANTENNAS

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-065&cid=release_2010-065

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA officials broke ground near Canberra, Australia on Wednesday,
Feb. 24, beginning a new antenna-building campaign to improve Deep Space Network
communications.

Following the recommendations of an independent study, NASA embarked on an ambitious
project to replace its aging fleet of 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) dishes with a new generation
of 34-meter (112-foot) antennas by 2025.

The three 70-meter antennas, located at the NASA Deep Space Network complexes at
Goldstone, Calif., Madrid, Spain, and Canberra, are more than 40 years old and show wear and
tear from constant use.

The new antennas, known as "beam wave guide" antennas, can be used more flexibly, allowing
the network to operate on several different frequency bands within the same antenna. Their
electronic equipment is more accessible, making maintenance easier and less costly. The new
antennas also can receive higher-frequency, wider-bandwidth signals known as the "Ka band."
This band, required for new NASA missions approved after 2009, allows the newer antennas to
carry more data than the older ones.

In the first phase of the project near Canberra, NASA expects to complete the building of up to
three 34-meter antennas by 2018. The decision to begin construction came on the 50th
anniversary of U.S. and Australian cooperation in space tracking operations.

"There is no better way to celebrate our 50 years of collaboration and partnership in exploring the
heavens with the government of Australia than our renewed commitment and investment in new
capabilities required for the next five decades," said Badri Younes, deputy associate
administrator for Space Communications and Navigation at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Space Communications and Navigation is responsible for managing all NASA space
communications and navigation resources and their operations. NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory manages the agency's Deep Space Network, an important component of the agency's
space communications resources.

NASA's goal is to integrate all NASA communications resources into a unified, far more capable
network. Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization manages
the communication complex near Canberra for NASA.

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

More information about the Deep Space Network is online at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov. More
information about NASA's Space Communication and Navigation Program is at:
https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov/spacecomm/.

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