| DESCRIPTION |
This fully steerable telescope is a parabolic reflector radio antenna that is part of the NASA Deep Space Network. It was first operational in 1974 with a 64-m aperture. The aperture was extended to 70-m in the late-1980s to support the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune. The 64-m antenna could receive at frequencies between about 1.6 and 8.6 GHz in left-circular polarization (LCP); over 2.0-8.6 GHz it could receive simultaneously in right-circular poolarization (RCP). It could transmit up to 20 kW at 2.1 and 7.1 GHz. Antenna coordinates were converted from Table 5 in module 301 (revision L) of the DSN Telecommunications Link Design Handbook (DSN document 810-005). The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) is located about 65 km west of Madrid, near the town of Robledo de Chevala, Spain. Under an agreement between the governments of Spain and the United States, dated 1964-01-29, the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the U.S. space agency NASA signed a contract for operation and maintenance of the MDSCC facilities.
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