Satellite tracking system console Orroral Valley

The Orroral Valley tracking station was an Earth station in Australia, supported Earth-orbiting satellites, as part 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 ...

's Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN). It was located approximately 50 km south 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 ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT), and was one of three tracking stations in the ACT, and seven in

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 ...

. Construction of the site commenced shortly after

site selection Site selection indicates the practice of new facility location, both for business and government. Site selection involves measuring the needs of a new project against the merits of potential locations. The practice came of age during the 20th centur ...

in 1963 and was completed in May 1965. It was home to a 26 m antenna and several smaller VHF and

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

frequency antennas. The main requirement of the station, as distinct from the long-range communication tasks of

Tidbinbilla Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is a protected area, on the fringe of Namadgi National Park. Tidbinbilla is a short drive from the capital city of Australia, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The nature reserve consists of a large val ...

and

Honeysuckle Creek The Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was a NASA Earth station in Australia near Canberra. It was instrumental to the Apollo program. The station was opened in 1967 and closed in 1981. History Honeysuckle Creek with a 26 metre dish is renown ...

, was to be able to quickly switch from supporting one satellite to another. The signal received from

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s in Earth orbit are relatively strong but view periods are short, a few minutes being typical. Many of the supported satellites used different systems for transmitting data, or for receiving commands so the station had to cope with a variety of equipment for support of the individual satellites. Data from the satellites were recorded on magnetic tape and air-freighted to the United States for study. The station supported the joint Apollo-Soyuz project in 1975, which saw American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts link in Earth orbit and conduct joint experiments in space. In April 1981, Orroral tracking station supported the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. It provided telecommunication support to

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

missions until its closure in 1985. The 26 m telescope was moved in 1985 to Tasmania, Australia, and now forms the core of the

Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory The Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory is a radio astronomy, radio-astronomy-based observatory owned and operated by the University of Tasmania, located 20 km east of Hobart in Cambridge, Tasmania. It is home to three radio astronomy antennas ...

run by the School of Mathematics and Physics,

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

. In 2018, Orroral Valley Tracking Station was the endpoint for the annual ANU Inward Bound. In 2019, a paraglider landed at the Orroral Valley Tracking Station and was promptly attacked by a wild kangaroo. The pilot suffered no injuries from the attack.

References

* {{Coord, -35.6289, 148.9558, region:AU-ACT_type:landmark, display=title Apollo program facilities Space Shuttle facilities NASA facilities in Australia NASA radio communications and spacecraft tracking facilities Earth stations in the Australian Capital Territory 1965 establishments in Australia 1985 disestablishments in Australia

See also

References