There is a really annoying reason that Gaia doesn’t save all the data it takes. That reason? It’s not possible to actually beam all the data back to Earth as fast as the mission’s data storage would fill up. The telescope is taking data faster than it can send data to Earth. So choices have to be made. These kinds of choices are one of the most frustrating parts of space science.

NASA has a network of radio dishes distributed around the world that they use to communicate with all their missions and sometimes collaborations — missions from other nations. Named the Deep Space Network, NASA has a neat webpage where you can go watch who each dish is talking with at any given moment. We’ll link to this site on our website, DailySpace.org.

If we want more data, the only way to get it is to build more antennae on earth and also to make spacecraft antennae more powerful. This week, NASA has started using a new dish at their Madrid facility that is going to give them additional eyes on the skies. Designated Deep Space Station 53, or DSS-53, the 111-foot (34-meter) dish is just one of six new systems being added to the network, which has dishes deployed in Madrid, Spain; Canberra, Australia; and Barstow, California.

We can’t wait to see what future science these systems help us bring back to Earth.

More Information

NASA JPL press release