GOLDSTONE TOUR
Introduction | Pioneer Site | Apollo Site
Gemini Site | Mars Site | Signal Processing Center

Gemini Site
Unlike other sites at Goldstone, Gemini was not named after famous space missions. Instead, it was named after the twin stars in the Gemini constellation. The two 34-meter-diameter (111-foot) beam waveguide antennas, originally built for the Army, were transferred to NASA management in 1994. As with the other 34-meter beam waveguide antennas at Goldstone, these dishes have four precision radio frequency mirrors to reflect signals to a receiving area located below the antenna. This technique allows safer and less expensive maintenance than when the receiving equipment is far above the ground in the antenna.

The Gemini equipment began its service by participating in the Solar Heliospheric Observatory and the Infrared Space Observatory missions to the Sun.