New Norcia Station

Coordinates: 31°02′54″S 116°11′28″E / 31.0482°S 116.191°E / -31.0482; 116.191
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

New Norcia Station
New Norcia Station antenna and solar power plant
Alternative namesDSA 1 Edit this on Wikidata
Named afterNew Norcia Edit this on Wikidata
Part ofESTRACK Edit this on Wikidata
Location(s)Western Australia, AUS
Coordinates31°02′54″S 116°11′28″E / 31.0482°S 116.191°E / -31.0482; 116.191 Edit this at Wikidata
OrganizationEuropean Space Operations Centre Edit this on Wikidata
Altitude252 m (827 ft) Edit this at Wikidata
Telescope styleground station Edit this on Wikidata
Diameter35 m (114 ft 10 in) Edit this at Wikidata
ReplacedPerth Station Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Estrack/New_Norcia_-_DSA_1 Edit this at Wikidata
New Norcia Station is located in Australia
New Norcia Station
Location of New Norcia Station
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The main mirror, S-band mirror and S-band feed horn inside NNO-1.

New Norcia Station (also known as NNO) is an

ESA deep space ground station,[2] followed by Cebreros Station and Malargüe Station
.

The station operates a 35-metre dish designated NNO-1

Ka-band station to support international missions.[1]

New Norcia Station was one of the stations providing communications, tracking and data download from the Rosetta spacecraft.[4] It supports the BepiColombo mission.[1]

History

Construction began in April 2000 and lasted until the end of the first half of 2002. Installation of electronics and communication equipment followed. The station was officially opened on 5 March 2003 by the Premier of Western Australia at the time, Dr Geoff Gallop. Total construction cost was €28 million.[2]

In December 2019, ESA announced plans to build a second 35 metre deep space antenna at New Norcia[5] to provide coverage for upcoming ESA missions, including Solar Orbiter, Hera, and Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. This is due for completion in late-2024. The antenna is due to enter operation in early-2025.

Since June 2019, operational support and maintenance of the station has been the responsibility of CSIRO.

NNO-2

The 4.5-meter NNO-2 dish during its inauguration.

A new 4.5-metre dish designated NNO-2 was inaugurated on 11 February 2016.[6] NNO-2 acts as an acquisition aid for the 35-metre dish for fast-moving satellites and launch vehicles during their launch and early orbit stage.

The NNO-2 mount is capable of tracking at 20 degrees per second in azimuth and 10 degrees per second in elevation.

The 4.5-metre dish has a half-power beam width of 1.9 degrees at S-band and 0.5 degrees at X-band and can be used to communicate with spacecraft up to 100,000 kilometres in altitude. To help in signal acquisition when the spacecraft position is too uncertain, the 4.5-metre dish has a 0.75-metre dish piggy-backed onto it, with a half-power beam width of 3.5 degrees at X-band. There is no S-band capability on the 0.75m dish.

NNO-2 may also be operated independently of NNO-1, as it commonly does during support activities for launches of Ariane 5, Vega, and Soyuz rockets from the Guiana Space Centre.

References

  1. ^
    ESA
    . Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. ^
    ESA
    . 3 March 2003. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. ESA. Archived from the original
    on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. ESA
    . 18 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  5. ^ "ESA to Peer into Deep Space with New Antenna". Asgardia Space. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. ESA
    . Retrieved 20 February 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Norcia Station.
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