* Astronomy

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Deep Space Station antenna 14

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RE: Goldstone Observatory

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The seven-month upgrade to the historic "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif. has been completed. After a month of intensive testing, similar to the rehabilitation stage after surgery, the antenna is now ready to help maintain communication with spacecraft during the next decade of space exploration.
The month of October was used as a testing period to make sure the antenna was in working order and fully functional, as scheduled, for Nov. 1. A team of workers completed an intense series of tasks to reach its first milestone - upgrading the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) antenna in time to communicate with the EPOXI mission spacecraft during its planned flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4.
The first official demonstration space track was on Sept. 28, when the antenna communicated with NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft.
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Goldstone dish under repairs

Located 125 miles northeast of downtown San Bernardino, the Mars antenna is a work of complicated engineering, and NASA employs its technology not only for deep space communications, but for radio astronomy.
But the antenna itself has been out of commission since March, the subject of an extensive repair process. It's scheduled to begin communicating with spacecraft again in November.
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Giant Antenna Propped up and Ready for Joint Replacement

Workers at NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif., have been making precise, laser-assisted measurements to ensure a flat surface for pouring new grout as part of a major renovation on the 70-meter-wide "Mars antenna." While officially dubbed Deep Space Station 14, the antenna picked up the Mars name from its first task: tracking NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft, which had been lost by smaller antennas after its historic flyby of Mars.
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Historic Deep Space Network Antenna Starts Major Surgery

Like a hard-driving athlete whose joints need help, the giant "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, California, has begun major, delicate surgery. The operation on the historic 70-metre-wide antenna, which has received data and sent commands to deep space missions for over 40 years, will replace a portion of the hydrostatic bearing assembly. This assembly enables the antenna to rotate horizontally.
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