Space Communications & Navigation Program

Introduction to Spectrum

You can’t see it. . .you can’t touch it. . .you can’t live without it. Use these downloadable activity sheets to enhance your lesson plan at school or at home. Scroll down for the downloadable files. Have fun! Spectrum Infographic Spectrum Crossword Puzzle

Posted April 5, 2024

Asteroids

Deep Space Network

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)

Planetary Defense

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)

Space Communications & Navigation Program

NASA’s Planetary Radar Images Slowly Spinning Asteroid

During the close approach of 2008 OS7 with Earth on Feb. 2, the agency’s Deep Space Network planetary radar gathered the first detailed images of the stadium-size asteroid. On Feb. 2, a large asteroid safely drifted past Earth at a distance of about 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers, or 7 ½ times the distance […]

Posted February 26, 2024

Deep Space Network

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Space Communications Technology

Space Operations Mission Directorate

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

NASA’s New Experimental Antenna Tracks Deep Space Laser

Capable of receiving both radio frequency and optical signals, the DSN’s hybrid antenna has tracked and decoded the downlink laser from DSOC, aboard NASA’s Psyche mission. An experimental antenna has received both radio frequency and near-infrared laser signals from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft as it travels through deep space.

Posted February 8, 2024

Space Communications Technology

Goddard Space Flight Center

Space Communications & Navigation Program

NASA Search and Rescue Technology Saves Explorers, Enables Exploration

In 2023, NASA-developed search and rescue technologies aided first responders in locating and saving 350 lives in the United States. Now, NASA is incorporating that same technology in astronaut missions. NASA provides technical expertise to the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort known as Cospas-Sarsat.

Posted January 30, 2024

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Communicating and Navigating with Missions

General

Wideband Technology

Overview As NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation approaches retirement, partnerships with commercial industry will play a critical role in the development of future space communications and navigation architecture.

Posted January 18, 2024

Glenn Research Center

Artemis 2

Communicating and Navigating with Missions

Doing Business with NASA

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Space Communications Technology

NASA Funds Laser Communications Tech with Small Business

NASA is working with private industry partners and small businesses under Artemis to produce scalable, affordable, and advanced laser communications systems that could enable greater exploration and discovery beyond Earth for the benefit of all.

Posted January 10, 2024

Deep Space Network

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA History

Space Communications & Navigation Program

NASA’s Deep Space Network Turns 60 and Prepares for the Future

Editor’s Note: Text regarding the name of JPL’s first ground stations was updated on Dec. 27, 2023. The agency’s DSN provides critical communications and navigation services to dozens of space missions, and it’s being modernized to support dozens more. NASA’s Deep Space Network marks its 60th year on Dec. 24.

Posted December 22, 2023

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Psyche Mission

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Space Operations Mission Directorate

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Tech Demo Missions

NASA’s Tech Demo Streams First Video From Deep Space via Laser

The video, featuring a cat named Taters, was sent back from nearly 19 million miles away by NASA’s laser communications demonstration, marking a historic milestone. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec.

Posted December 18, 2023

Laser Communications Relay

General

Goddard Space Flight Center

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Technology Demonstration

NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link

A NASA technology experiment on the International Space Station completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system on Dec. 5, 2023. Together, they complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.

Posted December 13, 2023

ISS Research

General

International Space Station (ISS)

Kjell N. Lindgren

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Space Communications Technology

STEM Engagement at NASA

Ham Radio in Space: Engaging with Students Worldwide for 40 Years

In May 2018, a student at Mill Springs Academy in Alpharetta, Georgia, Andrew Maichle, talked to NASA astronaut Scott Tingle on the International Space Station via amateur or ham radio. The experience profoundly affected Maichle, who went on to study electrical engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina. “It was so cool to see in […]

Posted November 29, 2023