Carnarvon Tracking Station
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Location(s) | Western Australia, AUS |
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Coordinates | 24°54′15″S 113°43′16″E / 24.9042°S 113.721°E |
Organization | NASA Radio Australia |
Telescope style | ground station |
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The Carnarvon Tracking Station was an
History
The station was built in 1963 for use by
The station also included an FPQ-6 precision tracking radar, a Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) scientific satellite tracking facility, a planet Jupiter monitoring system, and a Solar Particle Alert Network (SPAN) facility. Together, these facilities formed the largest station in the NASA network outside mainland USA.
After the conclusion of the Gemini program, the Tracking Station provided extensive support for the
To enhance critical communications between the station and the Houston Control Centre, NASA funded the establishment of the nearby OTC Satellite Earth Station Carnarvon in 1966.[1]
After Project Apollo finished, the Tracking Station was used to support the Skylab project. When that project finished, the station ceased routine operations immediately after an Atmosphere Explorer-C satellite pass on 4 October 1974, but sufficient capability was retained for one final mission − the trans-solar insertion of Helios-A on 10 December 1974. The final closure of the gates, and the exodus of the last five staff members, took place on 18 April 1975.
The main building was then used by
Solar scientific research, originally carried out at the Carnarvon Tracking Station, is now carried out on the adjacent OTC Satellite Earth Station site, which hosts a node of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network.
Engineering heritage award
The station received an Engineering Heritage International Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.[3]
See also
- Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station
- Orroral Valley Tracking Station
- Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
References
- ^ "History". The Canberra Times. Vol. 67, no. 21, 018. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 October 1992. p. 16. Retrieved 2 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ per Terence Kierans, ex-Operations Supervisor and Paul Dench, ex-Chief Engineer and contractor Company Manager
- ^ "NASA Space Tracking Station Carnarvon, 1965-". Engineers Australia. Retrieved 3 May 2020.