NASA Adds DSS-23—One Dish Now Talks to Voyager and Chandra

NASA marked the completion of Deep Space Station 23 at California’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex on August 25, 2026, with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. NASA’s August 25 completion account identifies DSS-23 as a new 34-meter multifrequency radio antenna managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

DSS-23 had already entered operational service on August 3, initially tracking the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A subsequent independent report on the operational antenna lists Chandra, Voyager 1, Juno, Psyche and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter among the missions it has contacted.

What DSS-23 adds at Goldstone

DSS-23 gives Goldstone another independently steerable station for receiving telemetry and scientific data and transmitting commands. It can take a compatible spacecraft pass that would otherwise require one of the complex’s existing antennas, creating more options when contact windows overlap or another dish is unavailable.

The antenna uses a multifrequency beam-waveguide design. Mirrors direct radio signals between the reflector and equipment in a stable, climate-controlled underground room, rather than placing heavy, sensitive electronics on the moving dish. The arrangement also makes that equipment more accessible for maintenance and later upgrades.

The practical gain is additional capacity, not unlimited access. A spacecraft still has to be visible from Goldstone, and the available station must support the frequency, transmitter, sensitivity and other requirements of its link. Scheduling priorities also remain necessary when several missions need compatible hardware during the same period.

Where the deep-space bottleneck forms

The constrained part of the communications chain is often the ground network rather than the spacecraft. Each contact has to pass through a limited set of suitable antennas while Earth’s rotation and the spacecraft’s position determine which complex can see it.

1. A spacecraft transmits telemetry or waits for commands during a defined contact opportunity.
2. Its position makes it visible from Goldstone in California, Madrid in Spain or Canberra in Australia.
3. Mission planners need an antenna at that complex with compatible radio equipment and enough sensitivity for the link.
4. The assigned antenna remains occupied for the scheduled pass, reducing the hardware available to other missions at that location.

The complexes’ global spacing allows coverage to shift around Earth, but it does not make their antennas interchangeable or their schedules limitless. A mission needing a particular capability may be unable to use a free dish configured for a different service.

DSS-23 expands only the Goldstone segment of this chain. It cannot supply an antenna at Madrid or Canberra, and it cannot serve a spacecraft below Goldstone’s horizon. When California does have visibility, however, the station provides another place to assign a compatible pass and reduces the capacity lost when neighboring hardware is undergoing maintenance.

How smaller antennas can back up a 70-meter dish

The largest antenna at each Deep Space Network complex has a 70-meter aperture, giving it a special role in demanding links and reception of weak signals. A single 34-meter antenna does not reproduce that collecting performance, so DSS-23 is not a one-for-one replacement for Goldstone’s large dish.

The alternative is arraying: several smaller antennas point at the same spacecraft while their received signals are combined. JPL’s account of the network upgrade states that arrayed 34-meter antennas can provide equivalent communications backup for each complex’s single 70-meter antenna, whose more than 50 years of near-continuous operation have made maintenance and repair increasingly costly.

Arraying trades flexibility for sensitivity. Every participating dish must see the target at the same time and possess the capabilities required for the contact; while combined, those antennas cannot each serve a different spacecraft. Adding DSS-23 makes that trade less restrictive at Goldstone because the complex has another station that can join an array or remain available for an independent pass.

The older 70-meter antenna therefore retains its unique operational value as one large, highly sensitive asset. DSS-23 strengthens the backup plan and widens the possible schedule, but it does not transfer every function of the larger antenna to one smaller dish.

The global expansion is not finished

DSS-23 is part of the Aperture Enhancement Project, which is expanding the network with multifrequency beam-waveguide antennas. Goldstone now has its planned addition, but the project remains incomplete until DSS-33 enters service at Canberra, currently planned for 2029; that milestone is expected to bring the network-wide complement of 34-meter antennas to 13.

Until then, the extra resilience is unevenly distributed. Goldstone has gained another antenna for individual contacts and arrayed backup, while DSS-23 cannot relieve pressure elsewhere when spacecraft geometry moves coverage to Spain or Australia.

As of August 28, DSS-23 is operational and has already supported an astrophysics observatory, Voyager 1 and several planetary missions. The next evidence of its impact will come from routine scheduling—how often it accepts separate passes, covers maintenance gaps or joins an array—while DSS-33’s commissioning will determine when the same upgrade program reaches its planned network-wide endpoint.

Also read:

• The Five Best Businesses to Start Now Have One Catch: Execution
• Society Apps Moved Beyond the Gate—Now They Run the Back Office
• Ideogram Character Still Starts With One Photo, but Now Extends to the API