 The 34m antennas at Goldstone | |
| Alternative names | Goldstone Observatory |
|---|---|
| Organization | |
| Location | Fort Irwin, California,[1] California |
| Coordinates | 35°25′36″N 116°53′24″W / 35.426666666667°N 116.89°W |
| Altitude | 2,950 ft (900 m) |
| Established | 1958  |
| Website | www |
| Telescopes |
|
  Location of Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex | |
 Related media on Commons | |
Pioneer Deep Space Station | |
  | |
| Location | Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Fort Irwin, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°23′21.41″N 116°51′22.31″W / 35.3892806°N 116.8561972°W |
| Area | 32,411 Acres[1] |
| Built | 1958 |
| Architect | U.S. Army |
| NRHP reference No. | 85002813 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 3, 1985[2] |
| Designated NHL | October 3, 1985[3] |
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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ "Apollo Deep Space Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
- ^ Goldstone gold mining
- ^ GDSCC Overview Archived 2015-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Latifiyan, Pouya (April 2021). "Space Telecommunications, how?". Take off. 1. Tehran: Civil Aviation Technology College: 15 – via Persian.