The NASA Deep Space Network is a worldwide network of spacecraft communication ground stations located in California, in Madrid, Spain, and in Canberra, Australia, that supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions. It also carries out radio and radar astronomy observations of the solar system and universe and supports some Earth orbiting missions, and it is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Facts
SignificanceA worldwide network of ground stations that carries the communications for every NASA interplanetary spacecraft mission and also performs radio and radar astronomy of the solar system, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 1 FAQs
Why does the NASA Deep Space Network have stations in California, Spain and Australia?
Three stations about 120 degrees apart in longitude let the network keep constant contact with spacecraft as the Earth rotates.
The network has three facilities spaced about 120 degrees apart in longitude around the world. They are at Goldstone, near Barstow, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. Because the Earth rotates, this spacing means that when a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one site, another site can pick up communication with it, so contact with spacecraft stays constant.
Sources
1. NASA Deep Space Network (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, first sentence
The forerunner of the DSN was established in January 1958, when JPL, then under contract to the US Army, deployed portable radio tracking stations in Nigeria, Singapore, and California to receive telemetry and plot the orbit of the Army-launched Explorer 1, the first successful US satellite.
status sentence
The NASA Deep Space Network is a worldwide network of spacecraft communication ground stations located in California, in Madrid, Spain, and in Canberra, Australia, that supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions.
In Group: Space Tracking Networks, Introduction
The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide network of spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions.
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