The Spacecraft Tracking and Data (Acquisition) Network (STADAN or STDN) was established by
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, succeeding t ...
in the early 1960s to satisfy the requirement for long-duration, highly available space-to-ground communications. The network was the “follow-on” to the earlier
Minitrack, which tracked the flights of Sputnik, Vanguard, Explorer, and other early space efforts (1957–1962). Real-time operational control and scheduling of the network was provided by the Network Operations Control Center (NOCC) at the
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
(GSFC) in
Greenbelt, Maryland.
Consisting of parabolic dish antennas and telephone switching equipment deployed around the world, the STADAN provided space-to-ground communications for approximately 15 minutes of a 90-minute orbit period. This limited contact period sufficed for uncrewed spacecraft, but crewed spacecraft require a much higher data collection time. In May 1971 STADAN was consolidated with the
Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) to form the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN).
Stations
STADAN stations were located:
*
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
in
Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921.
Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...
, US (ETC) - Network Operations Control Center
*
Orroral Valley Tracking Station in
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 ...
(ORR)
*
Carnarvon, Australia (CRO)
*
Cooby Creek Tracking Station
Cooby Creek Tracking Station, an Earth station in Australia, was located north of Toowoomba, Queensland. Built near the Cooby Dam, the station was located in a radio quiet zone, where there were no powerlines and other sources of potentia ...
in
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...
, Australia
*
Johannesburg, South Africa (BUR)
*
Tananarive, Madagascar (TAN)
*
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, US
*
Shoe Cove,
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada (NFL)
*
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
, US
*
Quito, Ecuador (QUI)
*
Lima, Peru
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
*
Santiago, Chile
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...
(AGO)
*
Antofagasta, Chile
Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the List of cities in Chile, city has a population of 402,669.
After t ...
*
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
, US (ULA)
*
Winkfield, England
Winkfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest unitary authority of Berkshire, England.
Geography
According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the hamlets of Winkfield, Maidens Green, ...
(WNK)
*
Rosman, North Carolina, US (ROS)
*
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in
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 main ...
, US (GDS)
*
Barstow, California, US
*
Brown Field, California
Brown Field Municipal Airport is in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, southeast of Downtown San Diego and named in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its ma ...
near
Chula Vista, US
*
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
*
Crete, Greece
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterr ...
*
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
, (
South Atlantic Ocean)
*
Cooper's Island, Bermuda
Cooper's Island is part of the chain which makes up Bermuda. It is located in St. George's Parish, in the northeast of the territory.
The 77-acre (31 hectare) island is located in the northeast of Castle Harbor. Due to reclamation work, it is n ...
(BDA)
Later developments
Most of the STADAN stations were phased out in the early 1980s, as the
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRS), took over most of the work of tracking satellites in
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
.
["Tracking-station closings scheduled," ''Science News,'' Vol. 117, No. 2. (Jan. 12, 1980), p. 27.] Another network, the
Deep Space Network (DSN), interacted with crewed craft higher than 10,000 miles from Earth, such as the
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
missions, in addition to its primary mission of data collection from deep space probes.
See also
*
NASCOM
External links
"STDN User's Manual"-
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
, (NASA-TM-X-72932) STDN User's Manual N75-78163, Baseline Document (NASA) 124 pages, UNCLAS 00/98 03939
GSFC X-202067-26William R. Corliss (1967). Evolution of the Satellite Tracking And Data Acquisition Network (STADAN).
NASA CR-140390- William R. Corliss (June 1974). Histories of the Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN), and the NASA Communications Network (NASCOM).
NASA SP-2007-4233- Sunny Tsiao (2007). "Read You Loud and Clear!" The Story of NASA's Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network.
STADAN Station in Shoe Cove, Newfoundland"NASA Directory of Observation Station Locations"-
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
, (NASA-TM-X-69902) NASA Directory of Observation Station Locations, 274 pages
Notes
{{reflist
Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA radio communications and spacecraft tracking facilities