Picture Album of the
DEEP SPACE NETWORK

Antenna at Woomera, Australia

NOTE: Click on the image to view it at its highest resolution.

The first deep-space station to be established overseas was at Woomera, Australia (DSS 41), about 354 kilometers (220 miles) north of Adelaide, in the state of South Australia. In February 1959, a survey team selected a location near the Island Lagoon dry lake bed, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of the rangehead of the Woomera Rocket Range. In August 1960, negotiations were completed for a U.S.-Australian agreement to operate NASA stations in Australia. A Radio Construction Company crew under the supervision of a JPL engineer Floyd W. Stoller erected a 26-meter, polar-mounted antenna similar to the one at the Goldstone Pioneer station. From August to November, JPL engineer Richard K. Mallis supervised a JPL-Collins Radio Company team that installed the electronics on the antenna.

The station was operated by the Australian Department of Supply (DOS), whose Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) managed the Woomera range. The DOS/WRE appointed William Mettyear as the first station director. The Woomera station ceased operations on December 22, 1972, as part of a consolidation of NASA station facilities. After the DOS determined that the cost of transporting the antenna to a new, more accessible location for radio astronomers would be prohibitive, the antenna was dismantled and sold for scrap in 1973.

1950's      1960's      1970's      1980's      1990's