NASA completes upgrade of Mars antenna

NASA completes upgrade of Mars antenna

2010-11-02 06:53:17 GMT+7 (ICT)

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) -- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Monday announced the completion of the seven-month upgrade to the historic Mars antenna and is ready to operate.

The Mars antenna also underwent a month of intensive testing, similar to the rehabilitation stage after surgery, and is now ready to help maintain communication with spacecraft during the next decade of space exploration.

"We've been testing the antenna since September 28, and we've had no problems in tracking the spacecraft. We are ready to resume service as scheduled," said Peter Hames of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The month of October was used as a testing period to assure that the antenna was working as expected and was fully functional. On September 28, the antenna successfully communicated with NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft.

An intense series of tasks were completed in order to upgrade the 70-meter-antenna in time to perform its first task: communicate with the EPOXI mission spacecraft during its planned flyby of comet Hartley 2 on November 4.

As part of the upgrade process, workers raised a portion of the antenna that weighs 3.2 million kilograms up from the base by 5 millimeters while they performed a precise repair. The team replaced a portion of the hydrostatic bearing and the four elevation bearings.

The repair operation was performed in the middle of California's Mojave Desert, a hot oasis baked by the unforgiving desert heat. The team had to perform the tests during early morning and night shifts to avoid heat.

The Deep Space Network consists of three deep-space communication facilities distributed120 degrees of longitude apart. In addition to the Mojave Desert, the other locations are outside Madrid, Spain, and Canberra, Australia.

In March 1966, the antenna, officially known as Deep Space Station 4, received the first signal from NASA's Mariner 4 mission to Mars.

It is currently tracking the rovers Spirit and Opportunity currently on the surface of Mars, the Cassini orbiter at Saturn, the twin Voyager spacecraft in the outer reaches of our solar system, and the Spitzer Space Telescope, which observes stars, galaxies and other celestial objects.

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