Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex

Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
The 34m antennas at Goldstone
Alternative namesGoldstone Observatory Edit this at Wikidata
Organization
LocationFort Irwin, California,[1] California
Coordinates35°25′36″N 116°53′24″W / 35.426666666667°N 116.89°W / 35.426666666667; -116.89
Altitude2,950 ft (900 m) Edit this at Wikidata
Established1958 Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.gdscc.nasa.gov Edit this at Wikidata
Telescopes
  • DSS 14
  • DSS 23
  • DSS 24
  • DSS 25
  • DSS 26 Edit this on Wikidata
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in the United States
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
Location of Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
  Related media on Commons
Pioneer Deep Space Station
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in California
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
LocationGoldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Fort Irwin, California, United States
Coordinates35°23′21.41″N 116°51′22.31″W / 35.3892806°N 116.8561972°W / 35.3892806; -116.8561972
Area32,411 Acres[1]
Built1958 (1958)
ArchitectU.S. Army
NRHP reference No.85002813
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 3, 1985[2]
Designated NHLOctober 3, 1985[3]
Goldstone Observatory in 1963

The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), commonly called the Goldstone Observatory, is a satellite ground station located in Fort Irwin[1] in the U.S. state of California. Operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), its main purpose is to track and communicate with interplanetary space missions. It is named after Goldstone, California, a nearby gold-mining ghost town.[4]

The station is one of three[5] satellite communication stations in the NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program’s Deep Space Network (DSN), whose mission is to provide the vital two-way communications link that tracks and controls interplanetary spacecraft and receives the images and scientific information they collect. The others are the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain and the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex in Australia. These three stations are located at separations of approximately 120° longitude so that as the Earth rotates a spacecraft will always be in sight of at least one station.[6]

The complex includes the Pioneer Deep Space Station (aka DSS 11), which is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

  1. ^ a b c "Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement for Military Training and Public Land Withdrawal Extension (confirms Goldstone location)" (PDF). U.S. Army. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. ^ "Apollo Deep Space Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  4. ^ Goldstone gold mining
  5. ^ GDSCC Overview Archived 2015-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Latifiyan, Pouya (April 2021). "Space Telecommunications, how?". Take off. 1. Tehran: Civil Aviation Technology College: 15 – via Persian.