5-610: The Orroral Valley tracking station was an Earth station in Australia , supported Earth-orbiting satellites, as part of NASA 's Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN). It was located approximately 50 km south of Canberra , Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and was one of three tracking stations in the ACT, and seven in Australia . Construction of the site commenced shortly after site selection in 1963 and
10-679: A few minutes being typical. Many of the supported satellites used different systems for transmitting data, or for receiving commands so the station had to cope with a variety of equipment for support of the individual satellites. Data from the satellites were recorded on magnetic tape and air-freighted to the United States for study. The station supported the joint Apollo-Soyuz project in 1975, which saw American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts link in Earth orbit and conduct joint experiments in space. In April 1981, Orroral tracking station supported
15-537: A paraglider landed at the Orroral Valley Tracking Station and was promptly attacked by a wild kangaroo. The pilot suffered no injuries from the attack. 35°37′44″S 148°57′21″E / 35.6289°S 148.9558°E / -35.6289; 148.9558 Earth stations in Australia A number of historic and current Earth (or ground) stations in Australia are used to communicate and track human-made satellites. Many of
20-644: The Space Shuttle Columbia . It provided telecommunication support to Space Shuttle missions until its closure in 1985. The 26 m telescope was moved in 1985 to Tasmania, Australia, and now forms the core of the Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory run by the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania . In 2018, Orroral Valley Tracking Station was the endpoint for the annual ANU Inward Bound. In 2019,
25-478: Was completed in May 1965. It was home to a 26 m antenna and several smaller VHF and microwave frequency antennas. The main requirement of the station, as distinct from the long-range communication tasks of Tidbinbilla and Honeysuckle Creek , was to be able to quickly switch from supporting one satellite to another. The signal received from satellites in Earth orbit are relatively strong but view periods are short,
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