Usuda Deep Space Center

{{Short description|Communications facility of JAXA}}

{{Use American English|date=October 2020}}

{{infobox observatory

| name = Usuda Deep Space Center

| image = The 64 m antenna at Usuda Deep Space Center.jpg

| caption = The 64 meter antenna at the Usuda Deep Space Complex

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| coordinates = {{coord|36|07|59|N|138|21|44|E|region:JP_type:landmark_source:kolossus-jawiki|display=inline,title}}

| altitude = 1,456 m

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| closed =

| website = http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/about/facilities/usuda.html

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{{Nihongo|Usuda Deep Space Center|臼田宇宙空間観測所|Usuda Uchū Kūkan Kansokujo|lead=yes|Usuda DSC, UDSC}} is a facility of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.{{cite web |title=Usuda Deep Space Center |url=https://global.jaxa.jp/about/centers/udsc/index.html |publisher=JAXA}} It is a spacecraft tracking station in Saku, Nagano (formerly in Usuda, Nagano; Usuda merged into Saku in 2005), opened in October, 1984. The main features of the station are two large beam waveguide antennas,{{cite journal

|title=Japanese deep-space station with 64-m-diameter antenna fed through beam waveguides and its mission applications

|display-authors=4

|author=Hayashi, T.

|author2=Nishimura, T.

|author3=Takano, T.

|author4=Betsudan, S.I.

|author5=Koshizaka, S.

|name-list-style=amp

|journal=Proceedings of the IEEE

|volume=82

|number=5

|pages=646–657

|issn=0018-9219

|date=1994

|publisher=IEEE

|doi=10.1109/5.284732 |bibcode=1994IEEEP..82..646H

}} an older 64 meter antenna and a newer 54 meter dish.

Usuda was the first deep-space antenna constructed with beam-waveguide technology. Although this construction dramatically simplifies installation and maintenance of electronics, it was previously thought to offer poor noise performance.{{cite news

|title = The Evolution of Technology in the Deep Space Network: A History of the Advanced Systems Program

|author = Layland, J.W.

|author2 = Rauch, L.L.

|name-list-style = amp

|date = 1995

|publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

|url = http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/95_20/95-20.pdf

|pages = 5

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110614133812/http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/95_20/95-20.pdf

|archive-date = 2011-06-14

}} However, after the U.S. Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) tested this antenna and found the noise performance was better than its conventional 64-meter antennas,{{cite tech report

|title=Use of a 2.3-GHz Traveling-Wave Maser on the Usuda 64-Meter Antenna

|author=Neff, D.

|journal=TDA Progress Report 42

|volume=89

|pages=34–40

|institution=JPL

|url=http://tmo.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report/42-89/89C.PDF }} it too switched to this method of construction for all subsequent antennas of their Deep Space Network (DSN). Because the 64 meter antenna is aging and is still in use over ten years after its designed service life, JAXA has built a new antenna nearby, the 54 meter dish of Misasa Deep Space Station.

Similar huge antennas are used by the deep space networks of the USA, China, Russia, Europe, and India.