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janrinok writes:

A ribbon-cutting ceremony near the base of the new NASA antenna within the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) marked the official beginning for the Near Earth Network (NEN) asset. Operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), the facility is a prime polar location for NASA and part of its globally distributing ground-based network providing communication services for orbiting spacecraft.

"You call this area the final frontier," said Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) to the Fairbanks crowd gathered for the ceremony. "At NASA, we see you as the first frontier because you are at the forefront of exploration activities. To everyone who worked to make this a reality, thank you. You have a special relationship with NASA, and we want to continue working with the university to expand this relationship."

Operation of the NASA-owned communication equipment, consisting of three antennas (AS-1, 2 & 3), is the responsibility of the university. The 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week services provide downlink, uplink and coherent tracking to support launches, early orbits and routine on-orbit operations. Development, building and verification testing of NASA's newest antenna were completed just in time to support the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) on July 2.

The NEN provides telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) services to an extensive and diverse customer base of approximately 35 missions. They include the high-rate Earth Observing System (EOS), Aqua, Aura and QuikSCAT; and Small Explorer (SMEX) missions such as SWIFT, AIM, IRIS and NuStar. The network provides TT&C services for orbiting satellites with periodic passes that average 140 per day. The NEN also supports orbiting satellites through short duration communications services. These missions require daily and sometimes hourly contact.

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