23 Now Supports Voyager 1 and Chandra
NASA has completed the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) antenna at the Goldstone complex in California. This new 34-meter radio antenna enhances the agency's ability to communicate with deep-space missions like Voyager 1 and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Why it matters
Increases the capacity and reliability of critical communication infrastructure for ongoing space exploration and scientific research.
23 NASA marked the completion of Deep Space Station 23 at California’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex on August 25, 2026, with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. NASA’s August 25 completion account identifies DSS-23 as a new 34-meter multifrequency radio antenna managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
DSS-23 had already entered operational service on August 3, initially tracking the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A subsequent independent report on the operational antenna lists Chandra, Voyager 1, Juno, Psyche and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter among the missions it has contacted.
DSS-23 gives Goldstone another independently steerable station for receiving telemetry and scientific data and transmitting commands. It can take a compatible spacecraft pass that would otherwise require one of the complex’s existing antennas, creating more options when contact windows overlap or another dish is unavailable.
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