ESA deployed "big iron" to communicate with its deep-space missions. Three 35-m diameter dishes employing some of the world's most advanced tracking technology. The three Deep Space Antenna stations of ESA located at New Norcia, Australia, Cebreros, Spain and Malargue, Argentina send commands and receive data from spacecrafts travelling hundreds of millions of kilometers into solar system.
The three stations form a part of ESA's Estrack network which is a global system of stations providing links between satellites in orbit and the European Space Operations Center, Darmstadt, Germany, The core network comprise of 10 stations in 7 countries.
The huge dish antennae whose movable structures weigh around 620 tonnes - can be elevated, rotated and aimed with great accuracy in spite of high winds and heat and transmit radio signals upto 20 KW power - enough to run over 20,000 domestic coffee makers. They make use of advanced, made in Europe Electronics, including cryogenically cooled low-noise amplifiers ( LNA) and exquisitely machined mirrors made of metal.
The three stations form a part of ESA's Estrack network which is a global system of stations providing links between satellites in orbit and the European Space Operations Center, Darmstadt, Germany, The core network comprise of 10 stations in 7 countries.
The huge dish antennae whose movable structures weigh around 620 tonnes - can be elevated, rotated and aimed with great accuracy in spite of high winds and heat and transmit radio signals upto 20 KW power - enough to run over 20,000 domestic coffee makers. They make use of advanced, made in Europe Electronics, including cryogenically cooled low-noise amplifiers ( LNA) and exquisitely machined mirrors made of metal.
