NASA Deep Space Network

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is NASA’s international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions. The DSN also provides radar and radio astronomy observations that improve our understanding of the solar system and the larger universe. The DSN is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The DSN consists of three facilities spaced equidistant from each other – approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude – around the world. These sites are at Goldstone, near Barstow, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. The strategic placement of these sites permits constant communication with spacecraft as our planet rotates – before a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one DSN site, another site can pick up the signal and carry on communicating.