History of the Deep Space Network
Encyclopedia
The forerunner of the DSN was established in January 1958, when JPL, then under contract to the U.S. 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 U.S. satellite
.
NASA
(and the DSN by extension) was officially established on October 1, 1958, to consolidate the separately developing space-exploration programs of the US Army, US Navy, and US Air Force into one civilian organization.
Shortly after the transfer NASA established the concept of the Deep Space Network as a separately managed and operated communications system that would accommodate all deep space
missions, thereby avoiding the need for each flight project to acquire and operate its own specialized space communications network.
The DSN was given responsibility for its own research, development, and operation in support of all of its users. Under this concept, it has become a world leader in the development of low-noise receivers; large parabolic-dish antennas; tracking, telemetry, and command systems; digital signal processing; and deep space navigation.
This arrangement also provided redundancy and help in the case of emergencies. Almost all spacecraft are designed so normal operation can be conducted on the smaller (and more economical) antennas of the DSN (or MSFN). However, during an emergency the use of the largest antennas is crucial. This is because a troubled spacecraft may be forced to use less than its normal transmitter power, attitude control
problems may preclude the use of high-gain antenna
s, and recovering every bit of telemetry is critical to assessing the health of the spacecraft and planning the recovery.
A famous example from Apollo was the Apollo 13
mission, where limited battery power and inability to use the spacecraft's high gain antennas reduced signal levels below the capability of the Manned Space Flight Network
, and the use of the biggest DSN antennas (and the Australian Parkes Observatory
radio telescope) was critical to saving the lives of the astronauts.
, although primary responsibility was held by the Manned Space Flight Network
. The DSN designed the MSFN stations for lunar communication and provided a second antenna at each MSFN site (the MSFN sites were near the DSN sites for just this reason).
Two antennas at each site were needed both for redundancy and because the beam widths of the large antennas needed were too small to encompass both the lunar orbiter and the lander at the same time. DSN also supplied some larger antennas as needed, in particular for television broadcasts from the Moon, and emergency communications such as Apollo 13.
From a NASA report describing how the DSN and MSFN cooperated for Apollo:
The details of this cooperation and operation are available in a two-volume technical report from JPL.
In particular, NASA constructed additional 64-meter antennas at Tidbinbilla, Australia
and Madrid, Spain, for moon missions support and Deep Space telecommunictions to Viking and Mariner craft.
The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory was originally built in 1961 by NASA. Its role was as a tracking station for NASA craft operating beyond Earth orbit. It was also known as the Deep Space Instrumentation Facility (DSIF). Formally it is known as DSS-51 in the DSN station nomenclature. The facility was operated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of NASA. The facility was removed from the Deep Space Network in 1974 and recommissioned as a radio astronomy facility.http://www.hartrao.ac.za/index.php
The average improvement in performance of the three DSS stations of the subnet was over 2 db in the X-band due to the modernization. This performance increase was vital for the return of science data during Voyager's successful encounters with Uranus and Neptune, and the early stages of its interstellar mission. The modernization also extended the useful range of communications for Pioneer 10
from about 50 astronomical units to about 60 astronomical units at S-band.
After the Voyager Uranus flyby, the DSN demonstrated the capability of combining signals from the radio astronomy antenna at Parkes, Australia, with the Network antennas at Tidbinbilla. This DSS subnet capability capability is now a standard part of network operation.
The Voyager encounter of Uranus in August 1989 presented an additional challenge for the Network. The DSN personnel negotiated with several radio observatories the option of combining signals with the deep-space stations.
By arrangement the Very Large Array
(VLA) had agreed to equip the 27 antennas with X-band receivers in order to communicate with Voyager at Neptune. The coupling of the VLA with the Goldstone antenna subnet made possible significant science data return, particularly for imaging the planet and its satellite and for detecting rings around Neptune.
(SOHO) mission of the European Space Agency
(ESA) would not have been possible without the use of the largest DSN facilities.http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/history/1990s.html
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
and plot the orbit of the Army-launched Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
.
NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
(and the DSN by extension) was officially established on October 1, 1958, to consolidate the separately developing space-exploration programs of the US Army, US Navy, and US Air Force into one civilian organization.
Origin in the 1950s
On December 3, 1958, JPL was transferred from the US Army to NASA and given responsibility for the design and execution of lunar and planetary exploration programs using remotely-controlled spacecraft.Shortly after the transfer NASA established the concept of the Deep Space Network as a separately managed and operated communications system that would accommodate all deep space
Deep space exploration
Deep space exploration is the term used for the exploration of deep space and which is usually described as being quite distant away from Earth, within or away from the solar system....
missions, thereby avoiding the need for each flight project to acquire and operate its own specialized space communications network.
The DSN was given responsibility for its own research, development, and operation in support of all of its users. Under this concept, it has become a world leader in the development of low-noise receivers; large parabolic-dish antennas; tracking, telemetry, and command systems; digital signal processing; and deep space navigation.
1960s (Apollo Era)
To support the Apollo manned lunar-landing program NASA's Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) installed extra 26-meter antennas at Goldstone; Honeysuckle Creek, Australia; and Fresnedillas, Spain. However, during lunar operations spacecraft in two different locations needed to be tracked. Rather than duplicate the MSFN facilities for these few days of use, in this case the DSN tracked one while the MSFN tracked the other.This arrangement also provided redundancy and help in the case of emergencies. Almost all spacecraft are designed so normal operation can be conducted on the smaller (and more economical) antennas of the DSN (or MSFN). However, during an emergency the use of the largest antennas is crucial. This is because a troubled spacecraft may be forced to use less than its normal transmitter power, attitude control
Attitude dynamics and control
Spacecraft flight dynamics is the science of space vehicle performance, stability, and control. It requires analysis of the six degrees of freedom of the vehicle's flight, which are similar to those of aircraft: translation in three dimensional axes; and its orientation about the vehicle's center...
problems may preclude the use of high-gain antenna
High-gain antenna
A high-gain antenna is an antenna with a focused, narrow radiowave beam width. This narrow beam width allows more precise targeting of the radio signal - also known as a directional antenna...
s, and recovering every bit of telemetry is critical to assessing the health of the spacecraft and planning the recovery.
A famous example from Apollo was the Apollo 13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
mission, where limited battery power and inability to use the spacecraft's high gain antennas reduced signal levels below the capability of the Manned Space Flight Network
Manned Space Flight Network
The Manned Space Flight Network was a set of tracking stations built to support the American space efforts of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab...
, and the use of the biggest DSN antennas (and the Australian Parkes Observatory
Parkes Observatory
The Parkes Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of several radio antennas used to receive live, televised images of the Apollo 11 moon landing on 20 July 1969....
radio telescope) was critical to saving the lives of the astronauts.
The Apollo program
Although normally tasked with tracking unmanned spacecraft, the Deep Space Network (DSN) also contributed to the communication and tracking of Apollo missions to the MoonMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, although primary responsibility was held by the Manned Space Flight Network
Manned Space Flight Network
The Manned Space Flight Network was a set of tracking stations built to support the American space efforts of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab...
. The DSN designed the MSFN stations for lunar communication and provided a second antenna at each MSFN site (the MSFN sites were near the DSN sites for just this reason).
Two antennas at each site were needed both for redundancy and because the beam widths of the large antennas needed were too small to encompass both the lunar orbiter and the lander at the same time. DSN also supplied some larger antennas as needed, in particular for television broadcasts from the Moon, and emergency communications such as Apollo 13.
From a NASA report describing how the DSN and MSFN cooperated for Apollo:
The details of this cooperation and operation are available in a two-volume technical report from JPL.
1970s
There was a substantial expansion of the number of 64m and 26m antennas in the 1970s.http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/history/1970s.htmlIn particular, NASA constructed additional 64-meter antennas at Tidbinbilla, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Madrid, Spain, for moon missions support and Deep Space telecommunictions to Viking and Mariner craft.
The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory was originally built in 1961 by NASA. Its role was as a tracking station for NASA craft operating beyond Earth orbit. It was also known as the Deep Space Instrumentation Facility (DSIF). Formally it is known as DSS-51 in the DSN station nomenclature. The facility was operated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of NASA. The facility was removed from the Deep Space Network in 1974 and recommissioned as a radio astronomy facility.http://www.hartrao.ac.za/index.php
1980s
There were no moon missions after 1972. Instead, there was an emphasis on Deep Space exploration in the 1980s. A modernization programme was launched to increase the size of the 64m antennas. From 1982 to 1988 the three 64-meter antennas of the Mars subnet in Spain and Australia were extended to 70 meters.http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/history/1980s.htmlThe average improvement in performance of the three DSS stations of the subnet was over 2 db in the X-band due to the modernization. This performance increase was vital for the return of science data during Voyager's successful encounters with Uranus and Neptune, and the early stages of its interstellar mission. The modernization also extended the useful range of communications for Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 is a 258-kilogram robotic space probe that completed the first interplanetary mission to Jupiter, and became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. The project was managed by the NASA Ames Research Center and the contract for the construction of the...
from about 50 astronomical units to about 60 astronomical units at S-band.
After the Voyager Uranus flyby, the DSN demonstrated the capability of combining signals from the radio astronomy antenna at Parkes, Australia, with the Network antennas at Tidbinbilla. This DSS subnet capability capability is now a standard part of network operation.
The Voyager encounter of Uranus in August 1989 presented an additional challenge for the Network. The DSN personnel negotiated with several radio observatories the option of combining signals with the deep-space stations.
By arrangement the Very Large Array
Very Large Array
The Very Large Array is a radio astronomy observatory located on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, some fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico, USA...
(VLA) had agreed to equip the 27 antennas with X-band receivers in order to communicate with Voyager at Neptune. The coupling of the VLA with the Goldstone antenna subnet made possible significant science data return, particularly for imaging the planet and its satellite and for detecting rings around Neptune.
1990s (Galileo Era)
DSN provides emergency service to other space agencies as well. For example, the recovery of the Solar and Heliospheric ObservatorySolar and Heliospheric Observatory
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is a spacecraft built by a European industrial consortium led by Matra Marconi Space that was launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS launch vehicle on December 2, 1995 to study the Sun, and has discovered over 2100 comets. It began normal operations in May...
(SOHO) mission of the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
(ESA) would not have been possible without the use of the largest DSN facilities.http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/history/1990s.html