The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC), in Spanish and officially ''Complejo de Comunicaciones de Espacio Profundo de Madrid'', is a satellite

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves f ...

located in

Robledo de Chavela Robledo de Chavela is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It has a population of 3319. The Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex (MDSCC) is located in this town. References See also * Imperial Route of the Community of Ma ...

, Spain, and operated by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA). Part of the

Deep Space Network The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide network of American spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA's interplanetary ...

(DSN) of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, La Cañada Flintridge, California ...

(JPL), along with its two sister stations at

Goldstone, California The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), commonly called the Goldstone Observatory, is a satellite ground station located in Fort Irwin in the U.S. state of California. Operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), its m ...

and

Canberra, Australia Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The c ...

it is used for tracking and communicating with NASA's spacecraft, particularly interplanetary missions. The DSN and the Near Space Network (NSN) are services of the NASA Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN).

Deep Space Network

The MDSCC is part of

run by the

. The facility contributes to the Deep Space Network's mission to provide the vital two-way communications link that tracks and controls interplanetary spacecraft and receives the images and scientific information they collect. The complex is one of three NASA Deep Space Network complexes in the world, located at separations of approximately 120° longitude so that a spacecraft will always be in sight of at least one station; the others are the

Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), commonly called the Goldstone Observatory, is a satellite ground station located in Fort Irwin in the U.S. state of California. Operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), its m ...

located in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, near the city of Barstow, and the

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a satellite communication station, part of the Deep Space Network of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located at Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory. Opened in 1 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

which is close to the city of

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. The complex also serves some missions of the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

Functions

The antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to: *Acquire telemetry data from spacecraft. *Transmit commands to spacecraft. *Track spacecraft position and velocity. *Perform Radio Astronomy (both single-dish and very-long-baseline interferometry) observations. *Measure variations in radio waves for radio science experiments. *Monitor and control the performance of the

Antennas

The complex has eight large parabolic antennas, called DSS-61, DSS-54, DSS-55, DSS-56, DSS-63, DSS-65 and DSS-66.Official INTA site for the MDSCC

References

External links

Official Site at JPL

Blog of the scientists manning the station

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140325190134/http://www.isdefe.es/en/sectors-Spacecommunications Official Site at ISDEFE, operator of MDSCC at Robledo {{NASA centers Deep Space Network Radio telescopes Earth stations in Spain NASA facilities INTA facilities 1961 establishments in Spain