ABOUT THE DEEP SPACE NETWORK

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 antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to:

		Acquire telemetry data from spacecraft.
		Transmit commands to spacecraft.
		Track spacecraft position and velocity.
		Perform very-long-baseline interferometry observations.
		Measure variations in radio waves for radio science experiments.
		Gather science data.
		Monitor and control the performance of the network.

The network is a facility of NASA, and is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND) manages the program within JPL.

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SEE US ON VIDEO!

To see our latest DSN 3-minute video, "Communicating Through Space", click here
   QuickTime (11.4 MB)
   MPEG (36.9 MB)

To see the construction of an antenna, reduced by time lapse photography to only 3 minutes, click here:
   QuickTime (15.8 MB)
   MPEG (9.69 MB)

Click here to download QuickTime.
Click here to download Windows Media Player.