http://www.esa.int/

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) first deep space ground station was opened in the Western Australian town of New Norcia in March 2003.

The 35 metre radio dish which sit out at New Norcia was the first such constructed by ESA. It is designed, and positioned, so that it will play a vital role in the communication with deep space projects, such as the successful Mars Expressprobe launched in 2003.

The station at New Norcia will continue to be used in ESA current and future deep-space missions. It is still providing daily support to Mars Express and Rosetta.

New Norcia was chosen as the site for ESA’s first ground station as its combination of weather conditions, telecommunications infrastructure and latitude make for the perfect site.

The site at New Norcia also hosts an antenna for the Global Positioning System – Tracking and Data Facility (GPS-TDAF).

Perth Station

In addition to the Deep Space Ground Station in New Norcia, ESA also operates a smaller dish from the Telstra owned Perth International Telecommunications Centre (PITC), in Wangara.

The main ESA antenna at the PITC facility is a 15m dish, used primarily for near-Earth communications.

The station is used for the XMM-Newton mission and for other satellites during their launch and early orbit phases.

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