Near Earth Network
Encyclopedia
The Near Earth Network provides orbital communications support for Near-Earth orbiting customer platforms via various NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 ground stations.

NASA's NEN consists of ground stations in:
  • Merritt Island Launch Annex
    Merritt Island spaceflight tracking and data network station
    The Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station, known in NASA parlance as MILA, was a radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex located on at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida...

     (MILA) and Ponce de Leon Ground Station (PDL), Floridahttp://science.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/mila/pdl.html
  • McMurdo
    McMurdo Station
    McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...

    , Antarctica
  • Wallops Island
    Wallops Island
    Wallops Island is a island off the east coast of Virginia, part of the barrier islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America.It is located in Accomack County, Virginia...

    , Virginia
    Virginia
    The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...



Also under contract are commercial operators at Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...

, Norway; Poker Flat Research Range
Poker Flat Research Range
The Poker Flat Research Range is a launch facility and rocket range for sounding rockets in the U.S. state of Alaska, owned and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute since 1968...

 and the Alaska Satellite Facility
Distributed Active Archive Center
The Distributed Active Archive Centers are part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System . DAACs process, archive, document, and distribute data from NASA's past and current Earth Observing System satellites and field measurement programs...

 (ASF) in Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...

; Santiago
Santiago
Santiago is the capital city of Chile. Santiago may also refer to:*Santiago *Santiago , a Spanish given name*Santiago!, a shortened form of the Reconquista battle cry "Santiago y cierra, España"...

, Chile; South Point
Ka Lae
Ka Lae , also known as South Point, is the southernmost point of the Big Island of Hawaii and of the 50 United States. The Ka Lae area is registered as a National Historic Landmark District under the name South Point Complex...

, Hawaii; North Pole, Alaska
North Pole, Alaska
North Pole is a small city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska metropolitan statistical area. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated its population as of July 1, 2009 at 2,226. The name "North Pole" is often applied to the entire area covered...

; and Dongara
Dongara, Western Australia
Dongara is a town located 351 km north-northwest of Perth on the Brand Highway. The town is located at the mouth of the Irwin River. In recent years the area has been marketed as the 'Rock lobster capital of Australia'....

, Australia.

Additionally, the MILA and Wallops stations provide pre-launch, launch, and landing communications support for the Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program
NASA's Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System , was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011...

. The NEN and SN
Space Network
Space Network is a NASA program that combines space and ground elements to support spacecraft communications in Earth vicinity. The SN Project Office at Goddard Space Flight Center manages the SN, which consists of:...

 combined were previously referred to as the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN).

Authority and responsibility

The NEN falls under NASA's SOMD (Space Operations Mission Directorate), interoperating with the SCaN
Space Communications and Navigation Program
The Space Communications and Navigation program places the three prime NASA space communications networks, Space Network , Near Earth Network , and the Deep Space Network , under one Management and Systems Engineering umbrella. It was established in 2006...

 Program offices. The Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...

 Ground Network Project has responsibility for maintaining the NEN, as well as implementing the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) Network.

Support for Constellation

The NEN was slated to support the Constellation Program, including the Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...

 launch vehicle, NISN (NASA Integrated Services Network
NASA Integrated Services Network
The NASA Integrated Services Network is a global system of communications transmission, switching, and terminal facilities that provides NASA with wide area network communications services...

), FDF (Flight Dynamics Facilities), KSC
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...

 Launch Control Center, and the Constellation Mission Control Center (MCC). Constellation has since been canceled.

See also

  • Space Network
    Space Network
    Space Network is a NASA program that combines space and ground elements to support spacecraft communications in Earth vicinity. The SN Project Office at Goddard Space Flight Center manages the SN, which consists of:...

  • Deep Space Network
    Deep Space Network
    The Deep Space Network, or DSN, is a world-wide network of large antennas and communication facilities that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions. It also performs radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe, and supports selected...

  • Space Communications and Navigation Program
    Space Communications and Navigation Program
    The Space Communications and Navigation program places the three prime NASA space communications networks, Space Network , Near Earth Network , and the Deep Space Network , under one Management and Systems Engineering umbrella. It was established in 2006...

  • Indian Deep Space Network
    Indian Deep Space Network
    The Indian Deep Space Network is a network of large antennas and communication facilities that supports the interplanetary spacecraft missions of India. It is located at Byalalu, a village about 100 km from Bangalore, India. It was officially inaugurated on 17 October 2008 by ISRO chairman...

  • TDRS
    TDRS
    A Tracking and Data Relay Satellite is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and from independent "User Platforms" such as satellites, balloons, aircraft,...

  • Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
    Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
    A Tracking and Data Relay Satellite is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and from independent "User Platforms" such as satellites, balloons, aircraft,...

  • Eastern Range

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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