Deep Space Network


Deep Space Network

(DSN) A network of radio dishes used by NASA for communications from and to spacecraft beyond the Moon, including the Voyager and Pioneer probes now in the outer Solar System. Some Earth-orbiting missions also utilize the DSN. Three standard radio dishes, 70 meters in diameter and equipped with highly sensitive receivers, are located at Goldstone in the Mojave Desert, California, at Tidinbilla near Canberra, Australia, and at Robledo near Madrid, Spain. As the Earth rotates, there will always be one DSN station that can receive signals from a spacecraft.

Deep Space Network

[¦dēp ¦spās ′net‚wərk] (aerospace engineering) A spacecraft network operated by NASA which tracks, commands, and receives telemetry for all types of spacecraft sent to explore deep space, the moon, and solar system planets. Abbreviated DSN.