Thales Alenia Space announces that the European Deep Space Antenna Alliance, formed with Schwartz-Hautmont and mtex antenna technology, has inaugurated the European Space Agency’s (ESA) NNO-3 deep space observation antenna.
The centerpiece of the New Norcia ground station near Perth, Western Australia, this new-generation 35-meter diameter parabolic antenna is part of ESA’s global ESTRACK ground station network.
NNO-3 will enable the agency to increase its communication capabilities in the X, K, and Ka bands and expand its antenna network to track and collect scientific data from all ESA missions throughout the solar system.
These include the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, currently orbiting the Red Planet, and the Euclid astronomical observatory, which covers a third of the sky to study dark energy and dark matter.