"I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to put up CubeSats with Artemis I."

DSN needs more bandwidth to handle everything they want to throw at it, but isn’t getting the budget

  • @Kbobabob@lemmy.world
    5•1 year ago

    a collection of antennas in California, Spain, and Australia used to maintain contact with missions scattered

    If other nations are involved and have a vested interest is NASA paying for all of it?

      • @Kbobabob@lemmy.world
        0•1 year ago

        I understand all of the logistics for needing them around the globe. So they purchase the land? I’d have guessed a lease. Surprising the host nations aren’t helping with costs or anything.

          • @Senshi@lemmy.world
            3•1 year ago

            Whenever a space agency affiliated with NASA needs to use the DSN for one of their missions, NASA accommodates and grants usage of it. And obviously, the mission agency pays for this usage out of their own mission budget. This goes the other way around as well. Since 2007, the DSN is closely partnered with ESTRACK, which is ESA’s antenna network. There also are cooperations with JAXA and ISRO ( Japan and India). Sometimes their networks can help fill coverage gaps or offer better bandwidths. Global cooperation really has its benefits.