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Deep Space Network
| title |
Deep Space Network |
| description |
The NASA Deep Space Network - or DSN - is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. The DSN currently consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately 120 degrees apart around the world: at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert, near Madrid, Spain, and near Canberra, Australia. This strategic placement permits constant observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates, and helps to make the DSN the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world. NASA's scientific investigation of the Solar System is being accomplished mainly through the use of unmanned automated spacecraft. The DSN provides the vital two-way communications link that guides and controls these planetary explorers, and brings back the images and new scientific information they collect. All DSN antennas are steerable, high-gain, parabolic reflector antennas. The network is managed and operated for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND) manages the program within JPL. For more on the Deep Space Network, visit http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/index.html *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Canberra Deep Dish Communica
…
| Title |
Canberra Deep Dish Communications Complex |
| Full Description |
View of Canberra 70m (230 ft.) antenna with flags from the three Deep Space Network sites. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain. |
| Date |
01/01/1990 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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JPL Site in 1942
| Title |
JPL Site in 1942 |
| Full Description |
In February 1942, there were only a few small buildings and rocket motor test pits on Jet Propulsion Laboratory's present site. George Emerson took this photograph from the hill above what is now the east gate. JPL is managed by the California Institute of Technology and is NASA's lead center for robotic exploration of the solar system. In addition to supervising robotic spacecraft and observing far-off galaxies in the universe, JPL is in charge of the Deep Space Network, which communicates with spacecraft and conducts scientific investigations from its complexes in California's Mojave Desert near Goldstone, near Madrid, Spain, and near Canberra, Australia. JPL is located in Pasadena, California about twelve miles northeast of Los Angeles. |
| Date |
02/1942 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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18) DSN - Australia:
| title |
18) DSN - Australia: |
| Description |
Odyssey will communicate with Earth through the Deep Space Network, a global network of antennas that allow us to send commands to the spacecraft and receive data back from it. During the first two months of cruise, only the DSN station in Canberra, Australia will be capable of viewing the spacecraft. Late in May, California's Goldstone station will come into view, and by early June the Madrid station will also be able to track the spacecraft. The project has also added the use of a tracking station in Santiago, Chile to fill in tracking coverage early in the mission. |
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Venus - First Radar Test
PIA00205
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Radar
| Title |
Venus - First Radar Test |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
After traveling more than 1.5 billion kilometers (948 million miles), the Magellan spacecraft was inserted into orbit around Venus on Aug. 10, 1990. This mosaic consists of adjacent pieces of two Magellan image strips obtained on Aug. 16 in the first radar test. The radar test was part of a planned In Orbit Checkout sequence designed to prepare the Magellan spacecraft and radar to begin mapping after Aug. 31. The strip on the left was returned to the Goldstone Deep Space Network station in California, the strip to the right was received at the DSN in Canberra, Australia. A third station that will be receiving Magellan data is located near Madrid, Spain. Each image strip is 20 km (12 miles) wide and 16,000 km (10,000 miles) long. This mosaic is a small portion 80 km (50 miles) long. This image is centered at 21 degrees north latitude and 286.8 degrees east longitude, southeast of a volcanic highland region called Beta Regio. The resolution of the image is about 120 meters (400 feet), 10 times better than previous images of the same area of Venus, revealing many new geologic features. The bright line trending northwest southeast across the center of the image is a fracture or fault zone cutting the volcanic plains. In the upper left corner of the image, a multiple ring circular feature of probable volcanic origin can be seen, approximately 4.27 km (2.65 miles) across. The bright and dark variations seen in the plains surrounding these features correspond to volcanic lava flows of varying ages. The volcanic lava flows in the southern half of the image have been cut by north south trending faults. This area is similar geologically to volcanic deposits seen on Earth at Hawaii and the Snake River Plains in Idaho. |
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