10 years of NASA's Consolidated Space Communications Program – See pic!

New Delhi: The US space agency NASA on Monday, May 16, marked 10 anniversary of Space Communications and Navigation (ScaN) that serves as the program office for all of the agency's space communications activities.

The image above shows NASA’s newest Deep Space Network antenna, Deep Space Station 35 in Canberra, Australia.

The Deep Space Network is managed and directed by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office, created on May 16, 2006.

The Deep Space Network, together with Near Earth Network and Space Network provide communication and tracking services to hundreds of NASA and non-NASA missions.

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.

(Source: NASA)