Western Australia in Space
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| 1993-now Kojarena, ADSCS Defence Signals Intelligence Station – nr Geraldton | 1993-now Kojarena, ADSCS Defence Signals Intelligence Station – nr Geraldton | ||
| Kojarena is part of ECHELON, a US signals intelligence and analysis network. Its four dishes intercept communications from regional satellites over Asia and from international communication satellites throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East regions | Kojarena is part of ECHELON, a US signals intelligence and analysis network. Its four dishes intercept communications from regional satellites over Asia and from international communication satellites throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East regions | ||
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| 1993-now Lockridge Earth Station (Optus) – nr Perth | 1993-now Lockridge Earth Station (Optus) – nr Perth | ||
Revision as of 23:42, 7 December 2006
Space activity locations
1950s Talgarno (Eighty Mile Beach) & Giles Weather Station Down-range end of Woomera Rocket Range: some minor rocket firings from Talgarno.
1960-63 NASA Muchea Tracking Station (MUC) – nr Perth - Mercury manned-space missions
1963-now Naval Communications Station Harold H E Holt North West Cape, Exmouth
1963-75 Carnarvon Space Tracking Station (NASA) – call sign CRO - Gemini, Apollo, & Skylab manned-space missions - Goddard R&RR scientific missions - Solar Particle Alert Network (SPAN) telescopes, Riometer & Jupiter Monitor for research and support of the manned-space program - FPQ-6 Radar supporting all the above launched vehicles and various defence and interplanetary missions providing precision orbital data. It also supported various balloon programs and CSIRO’s research into the territorial habits of Wedge-tailed Eagles.
1964-1965 WRE HAD Rocket Experiments – Carnarvon & Quobba - high atmosphere research supported by CRO
1966-1986 Carnarvon Earth Station (OTC) 1966 - OTC-1 (Casshorn ‘sugar-scope’) contracted to NASA to support manned-space program 1969 – OTC-2 (dish) to support satellite communications & NASA releasing OTC-1 for command, control, and tracking of geosynchronous communications satellite under contract to Intellsat Corp(?). From 1976 OTC supported emergency command & telemetry on several NASA missions and with an additional dish and two VHF antennas was contracted to support the ESA program culminating in Giotto – the Halley’s Comet mission
1976-now Yatharraga (formerly Yaragadee) – nr Mingenew MOBLAS5, a NASA Satellite Laser Ranging Station, is now managed by AUSLIG. In 1975 a Teltrac antenna (ex CRO) was installed at Yaragadee to support the NASA-USSR Apollo-Soyuz manned-mission
1987-now Gnangarra Earth Station (OTC) – nr Perth Improved satellite communication technology enabled OTC to relocate close to Perth making the Carnarvon station redundant. When the Carnarvon station was closed, OTC continued to support ESA at Gnangarra until ESA built its own station at New Norcia
1993-now Kojarena, ADSCS Defence Signals Intelligence Station – nr Geraldton Kojarena is part of ECHELON, a US signals intelligence and analysis network. Its four dishes intercept communications from regional satellites over Asia and from international communication satellites throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East regions
1993-now Lockridge Earth Station (Optus) – nr Perth Primarily for domestic communication.
2001-now Golden Valley Observatory, Lower Chittering – nr Perth An ex-CRO UHF Troposcatter Communications 10-m dish has been reassembled at the observatory for the ‘Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence’ project (SETI). The search is conducted by volunteers of the Western Australian Radio Observatory group in association with Astronomy Group of Western Australia.
2002-now ESA Tracking Station – New Norcia, nr Perth ESA built its first 30-m dish at New Norcia to support deep-space projects notably Rosetta to explore Mars. It is manned by a small team and is largely remotely controlled from ESA Control in Germany
Proposed Mileura, Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Station – east of Meekatharra The WA government plans to establish a 25 sq. km. radio astronomy park at Mileura. It hopes this decision will strengthen the Australian bid to win the A$ 2 billion 17-nation international SKA project currently narrowed down to two locations – at Mileura, Western Australia and in South Africa.
