NASA recently completed Deep Space Station 23, a 34-meter beam-waveguide antenna at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in Barstow, California. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting was held on August 25, 2026, with NASA leadership and personnel in attendance. The new antenna is part of the Deep Space Network’s Aperture Enhancement Project, which began in 2009 to upgrade and expand the network with six new 34-meter multifrequency beam-waveguide antennas.
The Goldstone complex features five 34-meter antennas, including the newly completed DSS-23, DSS-26, DSS-25, and DSS-24. A smaller, 26-meter antenna, originally built in 1967 for the Apollo Program and nicknamed the “Apollo Antenna,” is also present. These versatile dishes enhance missions operating over different radio frequencies by allowing missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft.
The Deep Space Network is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, a division of Caltech, for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate.
Read the original coverage
💬 Comments
📜 Comment Policy