NASA to improve deep space communications

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has started an antenna-building project designed to improve its Deep Space Network Communications.

NASA officials broke ground near Canberra, Australia, Wednesday to replace its aging fleet of 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) dishes with a new generation of 34-meter (112-foot) antennas by 2025.

Space agency officials said the three 70-meter antennas, at NASA Deep Space Network complexes at Goldstone, Calif., Madrid and Canberra are more than 40 years old.

"The new antennas, known as 'beam wave guide' antennas, can be used more flexibly, allowing the network to operate on several different frequency bands within the same antenna," NASA said. "The new antennas also can receive higher-frequency, wider-bandwidth signals known as the 'Ka band.' This band, required for new NASA missions approved after 2009, allows the newer antennas to carry more data than the older ones."

NASA said it expects to complete the building of as many as three 34-meter antennas near Canberra by 2018.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Deep Space Network, while Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization manages the communication complex near Canberra for NASA.