The Spacecraft Tracking and Data (Acquisition) Network (STADAN or STDN) was established by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

in the early 1960s to satisfy the requirement for long-duration, highly available space-to-ground communications. The network was the “follow-on” to the earlier

Minitrack The Minitrack Network was the first U.S. satellite tracking network to become operational, in 1957. It was used to track the flights of Sputnik, Vanguard, Explorer, and other early space efforts. Minitrack was the progenitor of Spacecraft Trackin ...

, which tracked the flights of Sputnik, Vanguard, Explorer, and other early space efforts (1957–1962). Real-time operational control and scheduling of the network was provided by the Network Operations Control Center (NOCC) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. Consisting of parabolic dish antennas and telephone switching equipment deployed around the world, the STADAN provided space-to-ground communications for approximately 15 minutes of a 90-minute orbit period. This limited contact period sufficed for uncrewed spacecraft, but crewed spacecraft require a much higher data collection time. In May 1971 STADAN was consolidated with the

Manned Space Flight Network The Manned Space Flight Network (abbreviated MSFN, pronounced "''misfin''") was a set of tracking stations built to support the American Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab space programs. There were two other NASA space communication networks a ...

(MSFN) to form the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN).

Stations

STADAN stations were located: * Goddard Space Flight Center in

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New D ...

, US (ETC) - Network Operations Control Center *

Orroral Valley Tracking Station The Orroral Valley tracking station, was Earth station in Australia, supported Earth-orbiting satellites, as part of NASA's Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN). It was located approximately 50 km south of Canberra, ...

in Canberra, Australia (ORR) * Carnarvon, Australia (CRO) *

Cooby Creek Tracking Station Cooby Creek Tracking Station, an Earth station in Australia, was located north of Toowoomba, Queensland. Built near the Cooby Dam, the station was located in a radio quiet zone, where there were no powerlines and other sources of potentia ...

Toowoomba, Queensland Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

, Australia *

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

(BUR) * Tananarive, Madagascar (TAN) *

East Grand Forks, Minnesota East Grand Forks (also known as EGF) is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,176 at the 2020 Census, making it the largest community in Polk County. It is located in the Red River Valley region along the easte ...

, US * Shoe Cove,

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

(NFL) * Fort Myers, Florida, US *

Quito, Ecuador Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley on ...

(QUI) * Lima, Peru * Santiago, Chile (AGO) * Antofagasta, Chile *

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the p ...

, US (ULA) * Winkfield, England (WNK) *

Rosman, North Carolina Rosman is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 576 at the 2010 census. The northern terminus of U.S. Route 178 is less than one mile northwest of Rosman on U.S. Route 64. The Pisgah Astronomical Resear ...

, US (ROS) *

Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), commonly called the Goldstone Observatory, is a satellite ground station located in Fort Irwin in the U.S. state of California. Operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), its m ...

in Goldstone, California, US (GDS) *

Barstow, California Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Located in the Inland Empire region of California, the population was 25,415 at the 2020 census. Barstow is an important crossroads for the In ...

, US * Brown Field, California near

Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popu ...

, US *

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

* Crete, Greece * Ascension Island, (

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

) * Cooper's Island, Bermuda (BDA)

Later developments

Most of the STADAN stations were phased out in the early 1980s, as the

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System The U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) is a network of American communications satellites (each called a tracking and data relay satellite, TDRS) and ground stations used by NASA for space communications. The system was desig ...

(TDRS), took over most of the work of tracking satellites in

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

."Tracking-station closings scheduled," ''Science News,'' Vol. 117, No. 2. (Jan. 12, 1980), p. 27. Another network, the

Deep Space Network The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide network of American spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA's interplanetary ...

(DSN), interacted with crewed craft higher than 10,000 miles from Earth, such as the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

missions, in addition to its primary mission of data collection from deep space probes.

External links

"STDN User's Manual"
- Goddard Space Flight Center, (NASA-TM-X-72932) STDN User's Manual N75-78163, Baseline Document (NASA) 124 pages, UNCLAS 00/98 03939
GSFC X-202067-26
William R. Corliss (1967). Evolution of the Satellite Tracking And Data Acquisition Network (STADAN).
NASA CR-140390
- William R. Corliss (June 1974). Histories of the Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN), and the NASA Communications Network (NASCOM).
NASA SP-2007-4233
- Sunny Tsiao (2007). "Read You Loud and Clear!" The Story of NASA's Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network.

STADAN Station in Shoe Cove, Newfoundland

"NASA Directory of Observation Station Locations"
- Goddard Space Flight Center, (NASA-TM-X-69902) NASA Directory of Observation Station Locations, 274 pages

Notes

{{reflist Goddard Space Flight Center NASA radio communications and spacecraft tracking facilities

Stations

Later developments

See also

External links

Notes