Built in 90 Seconds: The DSN Welcomes a New Antenna

NASA has welcomed a powerful new radio antenna to its global network of parabolic dishes, which communicate with spacecraft throughout the solar system. Completed in January 2021, Deep Space Station 56, or DSS-56, has been under construction since 2017, and this time-lapse video captures the entire process. DSS-56 is located at the Deep Space Network’s Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain.

Previous antennas have been limited in the frequency bands they can receive and transmit, often being restricted to communicating only with specific spacecraft. The new 34-meter-wide (112-foot-wide) antenna, however, is the first to use the DSN’s full range of communication frequencies. This means DSS-56 is an “all-in-one” antenna that can communicate with all the missions that the DSN supports and can be used as a backup for any of the Madrid complex’s other antennas. With the addition of DSS-56 and other 34-meter antennas to all three DSN complexes, the network is preparing to play a critical role in ensuring communication and navigation support for upcoming Moon and Mars missions and the crewed Artemis missions.

The DSN is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations’ Space Communication and Navigation program.

Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech