Espacio Lejano Station
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The Espacio Lejano Station is a radio station located in
Loncopué Department Loncopué is a department located in the west of Neuquén Province, Argentina. The department is the site of an ongoing dispute between local Mapuche communities and Chinese mining interest. It is the first such conflict in Neuquén Province. Ge ...
,
Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also me ...
, Argentina, and is operated by the
Chinese National Space Administration The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is a government agency of the People's Republic of China headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation. These responsibilities ...
as part of the
Chinese Deep Space Network The Chinese Deep Space Network (CDSN) is a network of large antennas and communication facilities that are used for radio astronomy, radar observations, and spacecraft missions of China. The CDSN is managed by the China Satellite Launch and Trac ...
, in collaboration with
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
's National Space Activities Commission (CONAE). The Chinese Deep Space Network is managed by the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), which was under the
People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force was a service branch of the People's Liberation Army that existed from December 2015 to April 2024. With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized confli ...
until its functions were transferred to the
People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force The People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force () is an arm of the People's Liberation Army. It was established on 19 April 2024. It is one of two independent space forces in the world. History The PLA Aerospace Force was established on 19 Apr ...
in 2024. The station was built and is maintained by subsidiaries of
China Communications Construction Company China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) is a Chinese majority state-owned, publicly traded, multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure assets, ...
. It has been operational since 2018.


Background

The observatory is located north of Bajada del Agrio, near the Salado River on provincial route 33, in the so-called Pampa de Pilmatué, in the deserts of
Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
. The station is based on a two-square-kilometer plot and houses a 35-meter antenna. It is the first Chinese deep space earth station built outside
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The land was leased in 2012 to the Chinese government for 50 years of use, and the agreement includes a tax exemption. China invested $50 million into building the station. Future plans for the facility include research on
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. The radio station employs at least thirty Chinese employees. The facility has reportedly had a positive effect on the local economy, including the nearby town of Las Lajas, in part as a result of construction work which required 300 workers. According to Chinese media, the station played a key role in China's
mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...
in landing a lunar rover on the dark side of the moon.


Military use concerns

Many, including local residents, journalists, think tanks, and the U.S. government, have voiced concern that the station may be used for military or
signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
purposes, but others have challenged or tempered this view.
Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...
’s former foreign minister, Susana Malcorra, said in an interview that Argentina has no physical oversight of the station's operations. In 2016, Argentine officials stated that China agreed to use the station solely for civilian purposes, but without an oversight mechanism in place. Opposition legislators characterized the 50-year agreement with the Chinese government as a loss of national sovereignty. In 2024, after U.S. Ambassador Marc Stanley publicly complained about the station, the government of
Javier Milei Javier Gerardo Milei (born 22 October 1970) is an Argentine politician and economist who has served as President of Argentina since 2023. Milei also served as a national deputy representing the City of Buenos Aires for the party La Libertad ...
was reported to want to inspect the station for contract compliance. This was later toned down to a "visit", which took place on April 18th.


See also

*
Malargüe Station Malargüe Station (also known as DSA 3 or Deep Space Antenna 3) is a 35-metre ESTRACK radio antenna in Argentina. It enables the European Space Agency (ESA) to communicate with spacecraft in deep space. It is located south of the town of Malarg ...
, a similar station run by
ESTRACK The European Space Tracking (ESTRACK) network consists of a number of ground-based space-tracking stations belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The st ...
for the
ESA The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
. *
List of radio telescopes This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio astronomy. The list includes both single dishes and interferometric arrays. The list is sorted by region, then by name; unnamed telescopes are in ...


References

{{Portal bar, Argentina, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Argentina Chinese telescopes Radio telescopes People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force