New_Norcia_Station
New Norcia Station
Earth station in Western Australia
New Norcia Station (also known as NNO) is an ESTRACK Earth station in Australia for communication with spacecraft after launch, in low Earth orbit, in geostationary orbit and in deep space. It is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of the town of New Norcia, Western Australia.[1] It was the first ESA deep space ground station,[2] followed by Cebreros Station and Malargüe Station.
The station operates a 35-metre dish designated NNO-1[3] capable of two-way transmission in both S- and X-bands using 2 and 20-kilowatt transmitters. The antenna weighs over 600 tonnes and is 40 metres tall. Future upgrade plans include adding a Ka-band station to support international missions.[1]
New Norcia Station was one of the stations providing communications, tracking and data download from the Rosetta spacecraft.[4] It supports the BepiColombo mission.[1]