NASA Deep Space Network
Insignia for the Deep Space Network's 40th anniversary celebrations, 1998.
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| Organization | Interplanetary Network Directorate (NASA / JPL) |
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| Coordinates | 34°12′3″N 118°10′18″W / 34.20083°N 118.17167°WCoordinates: 34°12′3″N 118°10′18″W / 34.20083°N 118.17167°W |
| Established | October 1, 1958 |
| Website | deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov |
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The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide network of US spacecraft communication facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions. It also performs radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe, and supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. DSN is part of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Similar networks are run by Europe, Russia, China, India, and Japan.
DSN currently consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately 120 degrees apart around the Earth. They are:
Each facility is situated in semi-mountainous, bowl-shaped terrain to help shield against radio frequency interference. The strategic placement with nearly 120-degree separation 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.
The DSN supports NASA's contribution to the scientific investigation of the Solar System: It provides a two-way communications link that guides and controls various NASA unmanned interplanetary space probes, and brings back the images and new scientific information these probes collect. All DSN antennas are steerable, high-gain, parabolic reflector antennas. The antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to:
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