Space Communications & Navigation Program

Technology
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
NASA Directorates
Near Space Network
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Space Operations Mission Directorate
NASA has selected multiple companies to expand the agency’s Near Space Network’s commercial direct-to-Earth capabilities services, which is a mission-critical communication capability that allows spacecraft to transmit data directly to ground stations on Earth.
Posted December 21, 2024
Deep Space Network
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Space Operations Mission Directorate
Deep Space Station 23’s 133-ton reflector dish was recently installed, marking a key step in strengthening NASA’s Deep Space Network. NASA’s Deep Space Network, an array of giant radio antennas, allows agency missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from spacecraft venturing to the Moon and beyond. NASA is adding a new […]
Posted December 21, 2024
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
General
As NASA innovates for the benefit of humanity and inspires the world through discovery, the agency launched a new video series specifically designed for use by medical treatment centers across the United States to help reduce anxiety and stress among pediatric patients during treatment.
Posted November 18, 2024
Space Technology Mission Directorate
Armstrong Flight Research Center
Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)
Flight Opportunities Program
Game Changing Development Program
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Psyche Mission
Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Technology
Technology Demonstration Missions Program
One year ago today, the future of space communications arrived at Earth as a beam of light from a NASA spacecraft nearly 10 million miles away. That’s 40 times farther than our Moon. That’s like using a laser pointer to track a moving dime from a mile away. That’s pretty precise. That laser — transmitted […]
Posted November 14, 2024
International Space Station (ISS)
Astronauts
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
Humans in Space
ISS Research
Johnson Space Center
Near Space Network
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Sunita L. Williams
Students from Colorado will have the opportunity to hear NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams answer their prerecorded questions aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, Nov. 14. Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 1 p.m. EST on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
Posted November 12, 2024
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Ames Research Center
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
Goddard Space Flight Center
Small Satellite Missions
Space Communications Technology
Technology Demonstration
NASA’s TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft — the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3) — have completed their technology demonstration. The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications.
Posted September 25, 2024
Near Space Network
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
Goddard Space Flight Center
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Space Operations Mission Directorate
NASA has awarded a contract to Intuitive Machines, LLC of Houston, to support the agency’s lunar relay systems as part of the Near Space Network, operated by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Posted September 17, 2024
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
Goddard Space Flight Center
Space Communications Technology
For over a decade, NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Internship Project alumni have played important roles in extending the agency’s long-term vision for exploration.
Posted July 25, 2024
Glenn Research Center
Aeronautics
Aeronautics Research
Human Space Travel Research
International Space Station (ISS)
ISS Research
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Technology Demonstration
Technology Demonstration Missions Program
White Sands Test Facility
A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon […]
Posted July 24, 2024
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