Usuda Deep Space Center is a facility of the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
.
It is a spacecraft tracking station in
Saku, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 99,131 in 41,522 households, and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Saku is located in east-central ...
,
[
opened in October, 1984. The main features of the station are two large beam waveguide antennas, an older 64 meter antenna and a newer 54 meter dish.
Usuda was the first deep-space antenna constructed with beam-waveguide technology. Although this construction dramatically simplifies installation and maintenance of electronics, it was previously thought to offer poor noise performance. However, after the U.S. Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) tested this antenna and found the noise performance was better than its conventional 64-meter antennas, it too switched to this method of construction for all subsequent antennas of their ]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). Because the 64 meter antenna is aging and is still in use over ten years after its designed service life, JAXA has built a new antenna nearby.
Similar huge antennas are used by the deep space networks of the USA, China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
, Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
.
Misasa Deep Space Station
This new antenna had the name GREAT (Ground Station for Deep Space Exploration and Telecommunication) during the construction. It is 54 meters in diameter and has an adaptive surface with high accuracy and efficiency, and hence is capable of working at the higher Ka-band frequencies. This will increase the potential data throughput despite the smaller size.
Public Access Classification
*General public: Observation of exterior installation and access to exhibition room
*Special access: None specified. (An explanation of the UDSC communications are conducted during special public access events conducted by Sagamihara Campus).
*Research Utilization: National Cooperative Research Institute, National University Cooperative Research Institute, International Cooperative Research Institute (access via the Space Sciences Research Institute)
References
Space program of Japan
Space technology research institutes
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