
Nach einem beinahe Zusammenbruch funktionierte das Deep Space Network der NASA auf Artemis II | „gut“. „Einige Missionen verbrauchen mehr, als in ihren Unterlagen angegeben ist.“
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/after-nearly-breaking-nasas-deep-space-network-worked-well-on-artemis-ii/
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>NASA pushed its Deep Space Network beyond its limits during the Artemis I mission nearly four years ago. The global array of deep space communications antennas couldn’t keep up with the routine demands of 40 robotic science missions and the extraordinary surge required by NASA’s Orion space capsule as it flew around the Moon.
>The experience in late 2022 reduced or delayed downlinks from several high-profile science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope and Mars rovers, as the data-hungry Artemis I mission took priority on NASA’s communications network. And that was before the first Artemis mission with astronauts onboard. When Artemis II launched April 1, NASA called upon the Deep Space Network (DSN) again to connect Mission Control to the Orion capsule as it soared more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth.
>With a crew of four flying inside the spacecraft, the agency’s appetite for data from Orion on Artemis II was even higher than it was on Artemis I. But at a little more than nine days, the Artemis II mission was shorter than the 25 days Artemis I spent in space, helping alleviate the communications overload. Artemis I also launched 10 small CubeSats into deep space, many of which required tracking and telecom services from the DSN. Artemis II carried fewer CubeSats.
>“We learned a lot on Artemis I, and we actually put some new processes in place ahead of Artemis II, mostly focused around coordination and our scheduling processes with all the missions, not just the Orion vehicle itself,” said Greg Heckler, deputy program manager for capability development in NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation Program. “I think that worked well.”
It didn’t “nearly break”, what a click-baity title. If its capacity for downlink is met, it doesn’t “break”, you just have to start prioritizing which missions get to downlink, which exactly what they did during Artemis I. If they’re implying that the Barstow antenna failure “nearly broke” the DSN, that demonstrates a lack of understanding of how the DSN functions.
voyager 1 is still calling home through those same dishes after 46 years. and artemis ii nearly broke it just by using more bandwidth than the paperwork said it would. that detail alone tells you how stretched the infrastructure is.