The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC; in Spanish and officially ''Complejo de Comunicaciones de Espacio Profundo de Madrid'') is a satellite

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fr ...

located in Robledo de Chavela, Spain, and operated by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA). Part of the

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

(DSN) of

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

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

(JPL), along with its two sister stations at

Goldstone, California 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 mai ...

and

Canberra, Australia Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city, and the eighth-largest Australian city b ...

it is used for tracking and communicating with NASA's spacecraft, particularly interplanetary missions. The DSN and the Near Space Network (NSN) are services of the NASA Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN).

Deep Space Network

The MDSCC is part of

run by the

. The facility contributes to the Deep Space Network's mission to provide the vital two-way communications link that tracks and controls interplanetary spacecraft and receives the images and scientific information they collect. The complex is one of three NASA Deep Space Network complexes in the world, located at separations of approximately 120° longitude so that a spacecraft will always be in sight of at least one station; the others are the

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 ...

located in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, near the city of Barstow, and the

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a satellite communication station, part of the Deep Space Network of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located at Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory. Opened in 196 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

which is close to the city of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. The complex also serves some missions of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, 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 ...

Functions

The antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to: *Acquire telemetry data from spacecraft. *Transmit commands to spacecraft. *Track spacecraft position and velocity. *Perform Radio Astronomy (both single-dish and very-long-baseline interferometry) observations. *Measure variations in radio waves for radio science experiments. *Monitor and control the performance of the

Antennas

The complex has eight large parabolic antennas, called DSS-61, DSS-53, DSS-54, DSS-55, DSS-56, DSS-63, DSS-65 and DSS-66.Official INTA site for the MDSCC

References

External links

Official Site at JPL

Blog of the scientists manning the station

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140325190134/http://www.isdefe.es/en/sectors-Spacecommunications Official Site at ISDEFE, operator of MDSCC at Robledo {{NASA centers Deep space networks Radio telescopes Earth stations in Spain NASA facilities INTA facilities 1961 establishments in Spain

Deep Space Network

Functions

Antennas

See also

References

External links