Antenna & tracking stations Options

[Steffen]

Probably not the correct forum area but I wanted to start a tracking station topic

Some Tracking stations related weblinks:

http://www.bfec.us/bfectxt.htm

http://www.insa.org/gallery/oc/historicas/Fresnedillas/

http://www.honeysucklecreek.net/other_stations/

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Don’t forget:

http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/

And the virtual tour on the 70-meter antenna in Spain ( which I took for real in 2006 )
http://www.mdscc.org/html/visita.html

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Here's one more view of the Spanish Deep Space Network complex : Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

This is a nice place to start ... http://www.nro.nao.ac.jp/~kotaro/RTs/rts.html

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

With regard to tracking stations, here are the major deep-space systems.

The first interplanetary command and telemetry system was built in the Crimea in 1959-1960 to support the 1M and Venera-1 missions. It consisted of several ADU-1000 antennas, forming the Pluto system. It was later augmented by a number of 32-meter antennas of the Saturn system.

[attachment=7619:attachment]

The American Deep-Space Network was set up to support the 1964 Mariner Mars mission. Three 64-meter antennas were eventually situated around the Earth for full-time coverage. The antennas were later upgraded to 70 meters. They were at Canberra, Goldstone, and Madrid:

[attachment=7614:attachment] [attachment=7615:attachment] [attachment=7616:attachment]

The corresponding Soviet system consisted of two 70-meter antennas of the Quantum system, built to support Venera-11 and subsequent missions. One was in Evpatoria, Crimea and one in Ussuriysk, Siberia.

[attachment=7617:attachment] [attachment=7618:attachment]

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

At the 50th birthday of spaceflight... What's the future for the world's largest radio dish?
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct07/...bo.bill.lg.html

[climber]

Just read toady on AW&ST that ESA is building a 64m dish antena in Sardinia. Anybody aware of this and where exactely?

[cndwrld]

It might be a radio astronomy dish of some kind. But there is no desire within ESA for a tracking dish of that size to be put in Sardinia. To complete our coverage, ESA needs to augment the antennas in Spain and Australia with something in Chile (probably). And in the size range of those two dishes, of around 35 meters. So there are no ESTRACK dishes going into Sardinia.

Our antennas are at: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEM...1.html#subhead1

[climber]

Sorry, I made a not enough acurate quote.
Here is what it's written on page 26 of the Oct 1st issue :
"Giovanni Bignami, head of the Italian Space Agency ASI, says Italy plans to propose [...] and a new 64-meter ground antena in Sardinia to beef up ESA's deep-space network [....] The antena, which ASI partly owns, is under construction."

So, it's abit contradictory to what you write, CNDWRLD. Any comment ?

[cndwrld]

From what you wrote, it says that it is to be proposed, and that it is also currently under construction.

But putting that aside, a dish on Sardinia would overlap in coverage with the new dish that was finished in last year in Spain, at Cebreros. While doing nothing to plug the hole they have in the Americas. And at 64 meters, would be significantly bigger than the two 35 meter antennas that currently make up the ESA deep space network. A 64 meter dish is hugely expensive, and would do nothing to improve the system coverage.

I checked with the operations guys in Darmstadt, where ESA does its spacecraft operations, and they had never heard of such an antenna in Sardinia.

I think this antenna falls into the same category as the Italian Space Agency announcing that they were going to fund an independent mission to the Moon.

[climber]

Thanks CNDWRLD, very interesting indeed to have a "in house" person able to check what AW&ST write.
They actualy also talked about ASI mission to the Moon (a relay orbiter).
Thanks for the info even if I'd prefered you were wrong

[stevesliva]

Perhaps the Iraqi Minister of Information got a new job for the Italian Space Agency.

[nprev]

You know, in a perfect world where UMSF had lots & lots of money, it would make perfect sense to have tracking stations widely separated in latitude but fairly close in longitude. This redundancy would not only minimize the impact of equipment failures but also offer considerable immunity from local weather effects...

[ElkGroveDan]

You know, in a perfect world where UMSF had lots & lots of money, it would make perfect sense to have tracking stations widely separated in latitude ..

Careful what you say now, or as soon as the balloon is finished Doug will be building one on the roof of his shed.

[nprev]

...maybe not a bad thing. I can see some great contracting opportunities there, lucrative enough to let him quit his day job & get on with becoming a famous space educator...

Only thing is that I'm not sure that the roof of HQ UMSF can handle a 70m steerable dish.