Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

- 35.401388888889148.98166666667Koordinaten: 35 ° 24 ' 5 " S, 148 ° 58' 54" E

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex ( CDSCC ) is equipped with satellite dishes antenna station in Australia. It is located southwest of the capital Canberra, in the valley of the Murrumbidgee River on the edge of the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. The CDSCC station is part of the worldwide Deep Space Network. The official opening took place on March 19, 1965 by the then Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. The management has since March 2003 Raytheon Australia held, on behalf of the CSIRO and NASA.

History

Mid-1960s, built the NASA in the Australian Capital Territory three ground stations:

  • The Tidbinbilla Tracking Station (today CDSCC ) was opened in 1965 and is the only ground station NASA on Australian soil, which is still in operation today. During the Apollo program was monitored from here the Lunar Module.
  • The Orroral Valley Tracking Station in today's Namadgi National Park was also opened in 1965. Their task was to support Earth-orbiting satellites and the Apollo -Soyuz project. In 1985, the station was closed.
  • The Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station (opened 1967) was built for the purpose to support the Apollo missions, mainly communication with the command module of the Apollo spaceships. After completion of the Apollo program, the station supported the Skylab program, then the Viking and Voyager space probes. In 1981, the station was closed. The parabolic antenna with a diameter of 26 meters was removed and rebuilt at CDSCC.

Receiving stations

In operation are currently four antennas (October 2005). In an especially large amount of work the CDSCC draws on the Parkes Observatory in New South Wales to receive data from the spacecraft.

  • DSS - 34 is a built in 1997 parabolic antenna with a diameter of 34 meters, which used an underground fiber
  • DSS -43 originally had a diameter of 64 meters at its establishment in 1976. In 1987, she was enlarged in anticipation of the flyby of Voyager 2 to Neptune on 70 meters. It is the largest controllable parabolic antenna in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • DSS - 45 is a 1986 built parabolic antenna with a diameter of 34 meters
  • DSS -46 is the former parabolic antenna of the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, which was rebuilt here in 1981
  • DSS -49 is the name for the dish of the Parkes Observatory

The collimator - tower of the station is located about three kilometers to the northwest on the Black Hill.

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