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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A crane lowers the steel reflector framework for Deep Space Station 23 into position Dec. 18 on a 65-foot-high (20-meter) platform above the antenna’s pedestal that will steer the reflector. Panels will be affixed to the structure create a curved surface to collect radio frequency signals.NASA/JPL-Caltech After the steel framework of the Deep Space Station 23 reflector dish was lowered into place on Dec. 18, a crew installed the quadripod, a four-legged support structure that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s receiver.NASA/JPL-Caltech Deep Space Station 23’s 133-ton reflector dish was recently installed, marking a key step in strengthening NASA’s Deep Space Network.
NASA’s Deep Space Network, an array of giant radio antennas, allows agency missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from spacecraft venturing to the Moon and beyond. NASA is adding a new antenna, bringing the total to 15, to support increased demand for the world’s largest and most sensitive radio frequency telecommunication system.
Installation of the latest antenna took place on Dec. 18, when teams at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, installed the metal reflector framework for Deep Space Station 23, a multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna. When operational in 2026, Deep Space Station 23 will receive transmissions from missions such as Perseverance, Psyche, Europa Clipper, Voyager 1, and a growing fleet of future human and robotic spacecraft in deep space.
“This addition to the Deep Space Network represents a crucial communication upgrade for the agency,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program. “The communications infrastructure has been in continuous operation since its creation in 1963, and with this upgrade we are ensuring NASA is ready to support the growing number of missions exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
This time-lapse video shows the entire day of construction activities for the Deep Space Station 23 antenna at the NASA Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, on Dec. 18. NASA/JPL-Caltech Construction of the new antenna has been under way for more than four years, and during the installation, teams used a crawler crane to lower the 133-ton metal skeleton of the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) parabolic reflector before it was bolted to a 65-foot-high (20-meter-high) alidade, a platform above the antenna’s pedestal that will steer the reflector during operations.
“One of the biggest challenges facing us during the lift was to ensure that 40 bolt-holes were perfectly aligned between the structure and alidade,” said Germaine Aziz, systems engineer, Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This required a meticulous emphasis on alignment prior to the lift to guarantee everything went smoothly on the day.”
Following the main lift, engineers carried out a lighter lift to place a quadripod, a four-legged support structure weighing 16 1/2 tons, onto the center of the upward-facing reflector. The quadripod features a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s pedestal, where the antenna’s receivers are housed.
In the early morning of Dec. 18, a crane looms over the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for Deep Space Station 23 reflector dish, which will soon be lowered into position on the antenna’s base structure.NASA/JPL-Caltech Engineers will now work to fit panels onto the steel skeleton to create a curved surface to reflect radio frequency signals. Once complete, Deep Space Station 23 will be the fifth of six new beam-waveguide antennas to join the network, following Deep Space Station 53, which was added at the Deep Space Network’s Madrid complex in 2022.
“With the Deep Space Network, we are able to explore the Martian landscape with our rovers, see the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning cosmic observations, and so much more,” said Laurie Leshin, director of JPL. “The network enables over 40 deep space missions, including the farthest human-made objects in the universe, Voyager 1 and 2. With upgrades like these, the network will continue to support humanity’s exploration of our solar system and beyond, enabling groundbreaking science and discovery far into the future.”
NASA’s Deep Space Network is managed by JPL, with the oversight of NASA’s SCaN Program. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on the Deep Space Network and Near Space Network, including supporting astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitoring Earth’s weather and the effects of climate change, supporting lunar exploration, and uncovering the solar system and beyond.
For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn
News Media Contact
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
2024-179
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Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 Related Terms
Deep Space Network Jet Propulsion Laboratory Space Communications & Navigation Program Space Operations Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above Ontario, Canada, near James Bay. NASA published a new report Thursday highlighting 17 agency mechanisms that have directly and indirectly supported the development and growth of the U.S. commercial space sector for the benefit of humanity.
The report, titled Enabling America on the Space Frontier: The Evolution of NASA’s Commercial Space Development Toolkit, is available on the agency’s website.
“This is the most extensive and comprehensive historical analysis produced by NASA on how it has contributed to commercial space development over the decades,” said Alex MacDonald, NASA chief economist. “These efforts have given NASA regular access to space with companies, such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab, modernizing our communications infrastructure, and even led to the first private lunar lander thanks to Intuitive Machines. With commercial space growth accelerating, this report can help agency leaders and stakeholders assess the numerous mechanisms that the agency uses to support this growth, both now and in the future.”
Throughout its history, NASA has supported the development of the commercial space sector, not only leading the way in areas such as satellite communications, launch, and remote sensing, but also developing new contract and operational models to encourage commercial participation and growth. In the last three decades, NASA has seen the results of these efforts with commercial partners able to contribute more to missions across NASA domains, and increasingly innovative agency-led efforts to engage, nurture, and integrate these capabilities. These capabilities support the agency’s mission needs, and have seen a dramatic rise in importance, according to the report.
NASA has nurtured technology, companies, people, and ideas in the commercial space sector, contributing to the U.S. and global economies, across four distinct periods in the agency’s history:
1915–1960: NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA’s pre-Apollo years. 1961–1980: Apollo era. 1981–2010: Space shuttle era. 2011–present: Post-shuttle commercial era. Each of these time periods are defined by dominant technologies, programs, or economic trends further detailed in the report.
Though some of these mechanisms are relatively recent, others have been used throughout the history of NASA and NACA, leading to some overlap. The 17 mechanisms are as follows:
Contracts and Partnership Agreements Research and Technology Development (R&TD) Dissemination of Research and Scientific Data Education and Workforce Development Workforce External Engagement and Mobility Technology Transfer Technical Support Enabling Infrastructure Launch Direct In-Space Support Standards and Regulatory Framework Support Public Engagement Industry Engagement Venture Capital Engagement Market Stimulation Funding Economic Analysis and Due Diligence Capabilities Narrative Encouragement NASA supports commercial space development in everything from spaceflight to supply chains. Small satellite capabilities have inspired a new generation of space start-ups, while new, smaller rockets, as well as new programs are just starting. Examples include CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), commercial low Earth orbit destinations, human landing systems, commercial development of NASA spacesuits, and lunar terrain vehicles. The report also details many indirect ways the agency has contributed to the vibrance of commercial space, from economic analyses to student engagement.
The agency’s use of commercial capabilities has progressed from being the exception to the default method for many of its missions. The current post-shuttle era of NASA-supported commercial space development has seen a level of technical development comparable to the Apollo era’s Space Race. Deploying the 17 commercial space development mechanisms in the future are part of NASA’s mission to continue encouraging commercial space activities.
To learn more about NASA’s missions, please visit:
https//:www.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 19, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related Terms
Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, shares highlights from the office in 2024, including key accomplishments and collaborations that support the NASA mission. Read the full report, NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy: A Year in Review 2024
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Last Updated Dec 18, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related Terms
Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article
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By Space Force
Space Force senior leaders outlined a comprehensive vision for the organization's future, marking significant milestones as the service approaches its fifth anniversary.
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By NASA
At Goddard Space Flight Center, the GSFC Data Science Group has completed the testing for their SatVision Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) Foundation Model, a geospatial foundation model for coarse-resolution all-sky remote sensing imagery. The team, comprised of Mark Carroll, Caleb Spradlin, Jordan Caraballo-Vega, Jian Li, Jie Gong, and Paul Montesano, has now released their model for wide application in science investigations.
Foundation models can transform the landscape of remote sensing (RS) data analysis by enabling the pre-training of large computer-vision models on vast amounts of remote sensing data. These models can be fine-tuned with small amounts of labeled training and applied to various mapping and monitoring applications. Because most existing foundation models are trained solely on cloud-free satellite imagery, they are limited to applications of land surface or require atmospheric corrections. SatVision-TOA is trained on all-sky conditions which enables applications involving atmospheric variables (e.g., cloud or aerosol).
SatVision TOA is a 3 billion parameter model trained on 100 million images from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This is, to our knowledge, the largest foundation model trained solely on satellite remote sensing imagery. By including “all-sky” conditions during pre-training, the team incorporated a range of cloud conditions often excluded in traditional modeling. This enables 3D cloud reconstruction and cloud modeling in support of Earth and climate science, offering significant enhancement for large-scale earth observation workflows.
With an adaptable and scalable model design, SatVision-TOA can unify diverse Earth observation datasets and reduce dependency on task-specific models. SatVision-TOA leverages one of the largest public datasets to capture global contexts and robust features. The model could have broad applications for investigating spectrometer data, including MODIS, VIIRS, and GOES-ABI. The team believes this will enable transformative advancements in atmospheric science, cloud structure analysis, and Earth system modeling.
The model architecture and model weights are available on GitHub and Hugging Face, respectively. For more information, including a detailed user guide, see the associated white paper: SatVision-TOA: A Geospatial Foundation Model for Coarse-Resolution All-Sky Remote Sensing Imagery.
Examples of image reconstruction by SatVision-TOA. Left: MOD021KM v6.1 cropped image chip using MODIS bands [1, 3, 2]. Middle: The same images with randomly applied 8×8 mask patches, masking 60% of the original image. Right: The reconstructed images produced by the model, along with their respective Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) scores. These examples illustrate the model’s ability to preserve structural detail and reconstruct heterogeneous features, such as cloud textures and land-cover transitions, with high fidelity.NASAView the full article
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