Milestones:Deep Space Station 43, 1973

Title

Deep Space Station 43, 1972-1987

Citation

First operational in 1972 and later upgraded in 1987, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) is a steerable parabolic antenna that supported the Apollo 17 lunar mission, Viking Mars landers, Pioneer and Mariner planetary probes, and Voyager's encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Planning for many robotic and human missions to explore the Solar System and beyond has included DSS-43 for critical communications and tracking in NASA’s Deep Space Network.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the Milestone Plaque Sites

421 Discovery Drive, Paddy's River District ACT 2620, 35°24'08.4"S 148°58'52.9"E, 421 Discovery Drive, Paddy's River District ACT 2620, 35°24'08.4"S 148°58'52.9"E

Details of the physical location of the plaque

The plaque will be mounted onto the face of a flat rock, and placed in the public entry point’s plaque display garden where there are other commemorative plaques.

How the intended plaque site is protected/secured

Because of the massive investment in the CSIRO Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, it has heavy security. However, the public entry point’s plaque display garden is publicly accessible during at least business hours.

Historical significance of the work

The Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station, also known as Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43), was constructed from 1969 to 1973 as a 64-metre diameter antenna. It was more than six times as sensitive as DSS-42, the original 26-metre antenna at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) at Tidbinbilla near Canberra, Australia. The primary purpose of the station's antennas is to track spacecraft and space probes for NASA and other space agencies.

DSS-43 supported, as needed, the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon before the antenna's dedication and official opening in 1973. Viking 1 and 2 missions were also supported in June-July 1976 when they were the first human landers on Mars. The Canberra dish handles nearly 42% of all data emanating from celestial explorers like Voyager, New Horizons, and the Curiosity rover, and it has also enabled the world to see dazzling pictures of Mars and Pluto.

DSS-43 was extended from a 64-metre diameter antenna to a 70-metre diameter in 1987 to enhance its capabilities for the Voyager 2 1989 encounter with Neptune. It is the largest steerable parabolic antenna in the Southern Hemisphere. The massive structure, weighing more than 3000 tonnes, rotates on a film of oil approximately 0.17-mm thick. The reflector surface is made up of 1,272 aluminium panels with a total surface area of 4180 square metres. The outer panels are perforated, allowing rain and wind to pass through them.

NASA plans to send future generations of astronauts from the Moon to Mars, and DSS-43 will play an important role as part of NASA's Deep Space Network.

Features that set this work apart from similar achievements

When it comes to making a long-distance call, it's hard to top NASA's Deep Space Network. It’s the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world.

The Deep Space Network - or DSN - is NASA’s international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth. The DSN also provides radar and radio astronomy observations that improve our understanding of the solar system and the larger universe.

The DSN is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which also operates many of the agency's interplanetary robotic space missions.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which also operates many of the agency's interplanetary robotic space missions. The DSN consists of three facilities spaced equidistant from each other – approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude – around the world: Goldstone, near Barstow, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia, which includes DSN-43. The strategic placement of these sites permits constant communication with spacecraft as the Earth rotates – before a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one DSN site, another site can pick up the signal and carry on communicating. Nearly 42% of all data emanating from celestial explorers like Voyager, New Horizons, and the Curiosity rover comes through DSS-43, whose communications operate in these bands: Transmit: X and S; Receive: X, S, L, and K.

The antennas of the Deep Space Network are the indispensable link to explorers venturing beyond Earth. They provide the crucial connection for commanding our spacecraft and receiving their never before seen images and scientific information on Earth, propelling our understanding of the universe, our solar system and ultimately, our place within it. Without the exceptional gain of the dish, coupled with its exceptional mechanical and electrical precision, it would be impossible to communicate with spacecraft beyond the edge of our solar system. Even today DSS-43 is unique in its ability to send commands to the Voyager spacecraft, and is key to our growing understanding of the environment of space beyond where any human spacecraft has flown.

Significant references

1. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/networks/deep_space_network/about 
2. https://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/cdscc_history.html 
3. https://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/cdscc_historyapollo.html 
4. https://theconversation.com/australias-part-in-50-years-of-space-exploration-with-nasa-24530 
5. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6929988 
6. https://www.readtheplaque.com/plaque/deep-space-station-43-ballima 
7. https://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/Antennas/dss43.html 
8. https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2023/april/deep-space-station-43 
9. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/txt_news_dss43.html 
10. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-deep-space-network-looks-to-the-future 
11. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars 
12. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/news/list/2021/06/18/researchers-on-a-mission-from-the-moon-to-mars 
13. https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/w/images/1/12/VikingMissionSupport%28JPL-Report%29.pdf 
14. https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-finally-makes-contact-with-voyager-2-after-long-spell-of-radio-silence 
15. https://blog.csiro.au/deep-space-station-43-upgrade/ 
16. https://simplediscoveries.com/canberra-deep-space-network/

Supporting materials

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