A New Antenna for NASA's Deep Space Network

Deep Space Station 53, or DSS-53, is a new 34-meter (111-foot) beam waveguide antenna that went online in February 2022 at NASA's Deep Space Network's ground station in Madrid.

DSS-53 is the fourth of six antennas being added to expand the DSN's capacity and meet the needs of a growing number of spacecraft. When the project is complete, each of the network's three ground stations around the globe will have four beam waveguide antennas. The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex is the first to have completed its build-out as part of project. Construction on DSS-53 began in 2016.

The DSN 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. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. Now with 14 antennas in operation, the network currently supports about 40 missions and is expected to support another 40 that will launch in the coming years.

The Madrid station is managed on NASA's behalf by Spain's Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (National Institute of Aerospace Technology).