Spotlight: Lending an Improved Ear

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features/dsn-090803.cfm

Spotlight: Lending an Improved Ear

Updated antenna will help out NASA during busiest of times

September 8, 2003

With the help of friends down under, calling home is about to get
easier.

With NASA-funded upgrades planned for this summer, the Parkes Radio
Telescope in Australia, celebrated by the movie "The Dish" for its
role in the first moonwalk, will once again help communicate with
spacecraft exploring the solar system.

Owned by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization, the 64-meter (210-foot) antenna is located near
the town of Parkes, Australia. With upgrades to handle the current
deep space transmission standards, Parkes' will take on some of the
workload of NASA's Deep Space Network. Managed by JPL, the Deep Space
Network is the largest telecommunications system in the world. With
antennas in Spain, Australia and California's Mojave Desert, the Deep
Space Network is a network of antennas that allow us to have two-way
communications with spacecraft at all times. JPL is overseeing the
Parkes upgrades and integrating Parkes into the Deep Space Network for
several months of operations.

Communications Crunch

Starting this coming November and peaking in January 2004, an
unprecedented fleet of spacecraft will require communications for
critical maneuvers. Among the potential users of the Parkes antenna
are NASA's Mars Odyssey, the Mars Global Surveyor, the two distant
Voyagers, the Stardust mission, the recently launched Space Infrared
Telescope Facility and the European Mars Express.

"Parkes will be used to provide backup support for a large number of
critical mission events and also to provide coverage for missions that
would otherwise receive none during periods of conflicts," said Gary
Spradlin, deputy manager of scheduling for the Deep Space Network
Plans and Commitments Office at JPL.

Although not part of the Deep Space Network, the Parkes antenna has
been used by NASA before to support the Apollo moon missions, the
Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter, and both Voyager missions during
their grand tour of the solar system.

The major improvement is adding a microwave system that allows for
reception in the X-band frequency currently used by all JPL missions.
The X-band frequency has a larger spectrum that allows more data to be
transmitted. Better performance will also be achieved by extending
the antenna's solid paneling by 10 meters (about 33 feet).

Glorious Past, Movie Star Status

Thanks to the movie "The Dish," the Parkes Radio Telescope may be the
world's best-known antenna. The giant dish surrounded by sheep and
green fields was featured in the film about the hectic days preceding
the first human landing on the Moon.

As Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon's surface, an estimated 600
million people were glued to the television. Searching for the best
quality images, NASA alternated between three tracking stations during
the first minutes of the telecast. Parkes' TV pictures, however, were
of superior quality, and NASA remained with Parkes for the remainder
of the 2 1/2-hour telecast.

Starting in late September a series of tests will be conducted, and by
the end of October, Parkes should be ready to start supporting
spacecraft tracking activities.

After giving us Armstrong's moonwalk, commonly referred to as "the
best live television show in history," the "dish" in the middle of
nowhere will be ready to bring us a feast of stunning images to fill
anyone's appetite.

Media contact: JPL/Carolina Martinez (818) 354-9382