Space may be the final frontier, but forget sci-fi for a moment because, as Davey Winder explains, the science fact is far more impressive.
If you think youve got it bad trying to keep yo
Space may be the final frontier, but forget sci-fi for a moment because, as Davey Winder explains, the science fact is far more impressive.
If you think youve got it bad trying to keep your mail server up and your Web site accessible, spare a thought for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and DSN (Deep Space Network). These guys have the unenviable task of trying to ensure reliable communications with spacecraft whooshing around millions of miles away in space. The DSN is a NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) project, managed by the TMOD (Telecommunications and Mission Operations Directorate), and is the key to keeping in touch with spacecraft launched by various countries around the planet.
The DSN works by using an international network of antenna clusters situated on three continents. These support interplanetary missions, as well as radio and radar astronomy observations that are used to explore the solar system and the universe. Three deep-space communications facilities are situated at 120-degree intervals around the globe: one at Goldstone in the Californian Mojave Desert, another near Madrid, Spain, and the last just outside Canberra, Australia. Each of the facilities is located within semi-mountainous, bowl-shaped terrain, which shields them from radio frequency interference, and each has at least four deep-space stations equipped with highly sensitive receiver systems and large parabolic dish antennae. The largest, and therefore the most sensitive, is a 70m-diameter antenna capable of tracking a spacecraft travelling some 16 billion km outside the Earths orbit. The dish reflector, together with its azimuth-elevation mounts set upon a concrete pedestal, weigh in at a little under 2.7 million kg.