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Celebrating Ten Years of NASA’s Consolidated Space Communications Program

Large ground antenna pointed toward sky
This photograph shows NASA’s newest Deep Space Network antenna, Deep Space Station 35 (DSS-35) in Canberra, Australia. The Deep Space Network is managed by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office, created on May 16, 2006.

This photograph shows NASA’s newest Deep Space Network antenna, Deep Space Station 35 in Canberra, Australia. Together, the Deep Space Network, Near Earth Network and Space Network — managed and directed by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office — provide communication and tracking services to hundreds of NASA and non-NASA missions.

Created on May 16, 2006, Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) serves as the program office for all of NASA’s space communications activities. SCaN’s major accomplishments over the past decade include the first optical communications link from the moon at 622 Mbps; three new Tracking and Data Relay Satellites; construction of an 11-meter Near Earth Network antenna in Alaska; and construction of the 34-meter Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna pictured above. In the future, SCaN will continue to develop leading-edge technologies and enhance communications capabilities, including communications for the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft through an advanced tracking antenna under construction at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Image Credit: Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex