For a long time, these dishes have been shared between missions. The DSN hasn't ever had excess capacity. 100% tasking just means the system is working as designed.
Just checked, every terminal is tasked again.
Dec 20, 2024A time-lapse video of construction operations for a new antenna at the NASA Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, on Dec. 18, 2024. Called Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23), the new antenna joins others at three Deep Space Network complexes around the world that communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond. During construction operations on Dec. 18, the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel parabolic reflector framework was lowered into position by crane before a crew bolted it into place. Shortly after, engineers placed what’s called a quadripod onto the center of the dish framework. A four-legged support structure, the quadripod weighs 16 ½ tons and features a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space to bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s pedestal, where the antenna’s receiver is housed. DSS-23 is a multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna that will boost the DSN’s capacity and enhance NASA’s deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. Once online in 2026, DSS-23 will be the fifth of six new beam waveguide antennas to be added to the network, following DSS-53, which was added at the DSN’s Madrid complex in 2022. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. It is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Feb 26, 2025The journey to the Moon isn’t just about the technology involved in the incredible rocket that placed it into orbit, or the precise manoeuvres the Athena lander needs to make to place it successfully on the lunar surface. It’s also a gigantic communication challenge. Much more than I think people may realise. Staying connected and passing considerable data back and forth from ground stations to Athena is obviously critical. What’s more, communication assets get super saturated and it can be hard to plan out a perfect strategy to accommodate not just this mission, but all the others going on around our solar system. How are Intuitive Machines doing this? Well, I’m thrilled to finally show you a big part of this story and they were kind enough to send me across Australia to show you exclusively the part of the story that I’m sure you are likely unaware of. Indeed, Intuitive Machines are utilising Australian assets to provide and evolve critical connectivity from the southern hemisphere. After all, before we return humans to the Moon, we need to demonstrate 24/7 mission control, and that includes future data relay networks too. It all starts with this IM-2 mission using vital assets down under. Thanks to CSIRO’s Murriyang radio telescope and Fugro’s SpAARC facility, IM-2 is pioneering the next phase of lunar communications.
On Nov. 10, JPL confirmed DSS-14 has been offline since Sept. 16, with no return date, as `the antenna remains offline as the board members, engineers, and technicians evaluate the structure and make recommendations and repairs`.Engineers say an over-rotation on Sept. 16 strained cabling and piping at DSS-14, the 70-meter Mars Antenna, damaging fire suppression hoses and causing quickly mitigated flooding.
NASA has established a formal mishap investigation board to examine what led to the antenna’s damage. [...]The repair timeline remains unclear, leaving open the question of how the outage may affect preparations for Artemis II, a 10-day crewed mission that will orbit the moon as early as next year.
