Doubling ESAs deep space capabilities at New Norcia with deep space antenna 4
ESA's newest deep space antenna, DSA 4 (also called NNO-3), is now fully online – representing a powerful new addition that strengthens the Agency's reach across the Solar System and boosts the capacity and resilience of its global Estrack network for communicating with spacecraft in deep space.
ESA's newest deep space antenna – DSA 4, also known as New Norcia 3 or NNO-3 – officially entered nominal operations on 1 April 2026. The 35 m dish, located at the New Norcia site in Western Australia, is ESA's third deep space antenna in the southern hemisphere and the second at the New Norcia site.
This new addition represents a major leap forward in ESA's ability to stay connected with spacecraft venturing into increasingly distant regions of deep space.
DSA 4 features the ability to downlink in X‑, K- and Ka‑band and uplink in X-band as well as K-band in the future. It is also equipped with cutting‑edge technologies, including cryogenically cooled receivers operating at −263°C. By cooling the link between the physical antenna and the receiver to near absolute zero, background interference, or "noise," can be dramatically reduced, improving the antenna's ability to detect signals weaker than a whisper from billions of kilometres away.
DSA 4 is also equipped with a 20 kW radio transmitter, which is comparable to the power a small car uses while accelerating onto a motorway. Radio waves weaken as they travel – much like ripples spreading out on a pond – so signals sent to distant spacecraft often become extremely faint. Thanks to its powerful transmitter, DSA 4 can send commands that remain strong and easy for spacecraft to detect even from across the Solar System.
DSA 4 is the newest member of ESA's Estrack network, a global system of ground stations that link satellites in orbit with the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), ESA's mission control hub.
ESA ground stations provide the communication lifeline to missions across the Solar System: essential telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) services that keep spacecraft safely connected to Earth.
They receive telemetry, the continuous stream of health, status and scientific data sent down by a spacecraft; perform tracking by precisely measuring a spacecraft's distance, velocity and position using radio signals; and transmit commands that control onboard systems, adjust trajectories, or update mission configurations.
With DSA 4, the network now includes four 35 m deep space antennas and three near‑Earth stations as part of its core infrastructure. DSA 4 complements Estrack's existing 35 m dishes in:
The other three ground stations in Estrack's core network are used for tracking satellites or launchers near Earth and feature 4.5 or 15 m dish antennas in Kourou (French Guiana), Santa Maria (Portugal) and Kiruna (Sweden).
All stations in this network are remotely operated around the clock by ESA's Network Operations Centre (NOC) at ESOC, which oversees antenna pointing, signal acquisition and continuous monitoring of the global system.
Estrack supports all ESA mission families, including deep space missions, as part of a large, diverse operational infrastructure.
After inauguration on 4 October 2025, DSA 4 embarked on an intensive commissioning phase. This meant months of fine-tuning everything from the dish surface to the ultra-precise timing systems.
Combined end‑to‑end testing was the first step to confirm that signals could pass through every component of the station. During this phase, engineers checked the performance of the antenna's mechanics, radio frequency stages, frequency and timing equipment, power systems and back-end modems.
Once the technical checks were complete, engineering teams prepared the station for real operations. They refined the control software and configured the ground system to work seamlessly with the new antenna as well as integrated DSA‑4 into ESA's scheduling and network‑control workflows together with the NOC.
In the final phase, teams tracked multiple ESA deep space spacecraft to ensure each could communicate with the new antenna.
With commissioning complete, responsibility formally shifted from engineering to operations. ESA's newest deep space antenna is now operated remotely from ESOC as part of Estrack's 24/7 global network.
"This is an exciting moment," says Harald Ernst, one of ESA's New Norcia station engineers who has been working with DSA 4 teams since before commissioning began. "After so much testing, experiencing the moments when the antenna finally goes online is very rewarding."
Euclid was the first ESA spacecraft to be tracked on 1 April after DSA 4 entered nominal operations, marking the moment the antenna came alive as a working part of ESA's deep space network.
Bringing a second deep‑space antenna online at the Australian site boosts ESA's global coverage, providing greater availability and built‑in redundancy.
This expanded capacity enhances support for ongoing deep space science and astronomy missions. Together, the two antennas can operate in combination to emulate a virtual giant dish, allowing them to capture faint signals from spacecraft far across the Solar System.
DSA 4 also brings next-generation X‑band transmission features that expand the link configurations possible from New Norcia, providing capabilities and operational flexibility that are unique within the Estrack network.
As humanity pushes deeper into the Solar System, missions will demand stronger links, higher data rates and extreme reliability back on Earth.
While DSA 4 begins operations, preparations are already underway for DSA 5, ESA's next 35 m deep space antenna. ESA member states approved funding for the project at the November 2025 Ministerial Council.
With DSA 4 online and DSA 5 in the works, Estrack is continuing its evolution as the communication backbone that will support the next generation of space exploration for decades to come. This growing capability will provide the enhanced coverage, redundancy and technical readiness required to support ESA's expanding presence across the Solar System and deepen Europe's role in global space science.
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