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The Deep Space Network (DSN), managed by the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion laboratory (JPL), has provided vital communications and navigation services for NASA deep space exploration missions for more than 40 years. The remarkable technical achievements of the planetary exploration program executed by NASA would not have been possible without the extensive and sophisticated communications and data handling systems that comprise the Deep Space Network. The principal facilities of the DSN are three major ground station complexes, one in the United States (Goldstone, California), one near Madrid, Spain, and one near Canberra, Australia. Each of the complexes has several tracking antennae; the largest has a diameter of 70 meters, and smaller ones have diameters of 11–34 meters. In addition to antennae, the DSN also has a complex of computers and signal processing capabilities that permit very thorough and sophisticated analysis of signals sent back from distant spacecraft. In addition to receiving data from very distant spacecraft, the facilities of the network are also used to control the spacecraft. The network and the associated spacecraft are designed so that if a failure of a spacecraft should occur, there are often means available to effect a recovery. The continuing improvements in the technology of the network have greatly increased the useful lives and capabilities of the spacecraft that use the network. No history of the DSN would be complete without full appreciation of the contribution made by advanced technology to the successful development of the Network. The wellspring of new and innovative ideas for increasing the existing capability of the Network, improving reliability, operability, and cost-effectiveness, and for enabling recovery from potential mission-threatening situations has resided, from the very beginning of the Network's history, in a strong program of advanced technology, research, and development. Keywords: Deep Space Network; antennae; forward command; data link; return telemetry; antennae array; radio-metric techniques; Goldstone Solar System Radar; telecommunications performance |
