Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

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70m telescope at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

Tidbinbilla Locality Map, the site is marked with the red star.

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a ground station that is located in Australia at Tidbinbilla in a valley of the Murrumbidgee River, about half an hour's drive out of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. The complex is part of the Deep Space Network run by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is commonly referred to as the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station and was officially opened on 19 March 1965 by the then Prime Minister of Australia Sir Robert Menzies.

The station is separated from Canberra by the Murrumbidgee River, but most notably by the Coolamon Ridge and Urambi Hills that help shield the city's radio frequency (RF) noise from the dishes. Located nearby is the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.

The CSIRO manages most of NASA's activities in Australia. Since March 2003, Raytheon Australia has managed the CDSCC on behalf of the CSIRO and NASA.

The complex is one of just three in the world. The other two are the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex located in Spain and the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in the United States.

[edit] History

During the mid 1960s NASA built three tracking stations in the Australian Capital Territory.

The Tidbinbilla Tracking Station (now known as CDSCC) was opened in 1965 and is the only NASA tracking station in Australia still in operation. During the Apollo program, Tidbinbilla was used for tracking the Apollo Lunar Module.

The Orroral Valley Tracking Station was opened in May 1965 in what is now part of Namadgi National Park. Its role was orbiting satellite support, although it also supported the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. It was closed in 1985.

Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station opened in 1967 and was built primarily to support the Apollo moon missions, mainly communications with the Apollo Command Module. After the cancellation of the Apollo Project the station supported Skylab until its re-entry in 1979 when the station joined the Deep Space Network in support of the Viking and Voyager projects. 1981 saw the closure of the station and its 26 m antenna was moved to CDSCC to become known as Deep Space Station 46.

[edit] Receivers

As of October 2005 the Station has four large antennas in use. The CDSCC also uses the Parkes radio telescope in central New South Wales at busy times to receive data from spacecraft.

DSS-34 is a 34 m dish utilising a wave guide to place the receiving and transmitting hardware underground rather than on top of the dish. It is the most recent antenna at CDSCC, being built in 1997.
DSS-43 is a 70 m dish constructed in 1976 and extended in 1987. It is the largest steerable parabolic antenna in the Southern Hemisphere.
DSS-45 is a 34 m dish built in 1986.
DSS-46 is a 26 m dish. It was moved in 1981 from Honeysuckle Creek, where it was built in 1967.
DSS-49 is the designation of the 64 m dish at Parkes.