The Near Earth Network (NEN, formerly GN or Ground Network) provides orbital communications support for near-Earth orbiting customer platforms via various ground stations, operated by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

and other space agencies. It uses a number of different dishes scattered around the globe. The antennas must be able to move fast for tracking of objects 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 m ...

(LEO). The NEN and SN combined were previously referred to as the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN).

Ground stations

NEN uses several stations run by NASA: * Alaska Satellite Facility in

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 po ...

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 11.3m/11m/9.1m * Kennedy Uplink Station, Merritt Island Launch Annex (MILA)— Supports: S-band - Assets: 6.1m *

McMurdo Vice-Admiral Archibald McMurdo (24 September 1812 – 11 December 1875) was a Scottish naval officer and polar explorer after whom Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station, McMurdo Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valleys and McMurdo–South Pole Hig ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 10m * Ponce de Leon Station,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

— Supports: S-band - Assets: 6.

* Wallops Ground Station, in

Wallops Island Wallops Island is a island in Accomack County, Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. It is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination. Wa ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

— Supports: VHF, S/X Band — Assets: 11m/5m * White Sands Ground Station,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

— Supports: VHF, S/Ka Band — Assets: 18.3m NEN uses Stations run by KSAT — Kongsberg Satellite Services: * Singapore, Malaysia — Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 9.1m * Svalbard Satellite Station

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 11.3m/11.3m/13m * TrollSat,

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 7.3m/7.3m NEN uses a Station run by SANSA —

South African National Space Agency The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is South Africa's government agency responsible for the promotion and development of aeronautics and aerospace space research. It fosters cooperation in space-related activities and research in sp ...

: *

Hartebeesthoek The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) is a radio astronomy observatory, located in a natural bowl of hills at Hartebeesthoek just south of the Magaliesberg mountain range, Gauteng, South Africa, about 50 km west of Johanne ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 12m/10m * A new ground station is under construction in Matjiesfontein, scheduled to come online in 2025. NEN uses Stations run by SSC — Swedish Space Corporation * Kiruna, Sweden — Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 13m/13m *

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

, Chile— Supports: S Band — Assets: 9m/12m/13m * Space US North Pole, Alaska— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 5m/7.3m/11m/13m * SSC Space US Dongara, Australia — Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 13m * Space US South Point,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

— Supports: S/X Band — Assets: 13m/13m Also under contract was Poker Flat Research Range. Additionally, the MILA and Wallops stations provide pre-launch, launch, and landing communications support for the

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...

Authority and responsibility

The NEN falls under NASA's SOMD (Space Operations Mission Directorate), interoperating with the

SCaN Scan may refer to: Acronyms * Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), a psychiatric diagnostic tool developed by WHO * Shared Check Authorization Network (SCAN), a database of bad check writers and collection agency for bad ...

Program offices. The

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC emp ...

Ground Network Project has responsibility for maintaining the NEN, as well as implementing the Satellite laser ranging (SLR) Network.

Support for Constellation

The NEN was slated to support the

Constellation Program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" an ...

, including the

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war ...

launch vehicle, NISN ( NASA Integrated Services Network), FDF (Flight Dynamics Facilities), KSC Launch Control Center, and the Constellation Mission Control Center (MCC). Constellation has since been canceled.

References

Footnotes

* Constellation Architecture Requirements Document (CARD), CxP 70000, Revision C (December 25, 2008). NASA: Constellation Systems Engineering and Integration Office * Space Network User's Guide (SNUG), 450-SNUG, Rev 9.

External links