ESA - European Space Agency
ESA - European Space Agency
09/16/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/16/2025 05:09
Media invitation: ESA's fourth Deep Space Antenna pre-inauguration briefing
ESA will inaugurate its fourth Deep Space Antenna on 4 October 2025. Located in New Norcia, Australia, this new strategic infrastructure will reinforce ESA's deep- space communication capabilities and maximise the return of ESA most valuable assets: scientific data.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is pleased to invite journalists to a pre-inauguration media briefing to be held online on 22 September 2025at 11:00 CEST.
Journalists interested to learn more about the new Deep Space Antenna are invited to register here Media form - ESA forms by Thursday 18 September 2025 at 19:00 CEST.
Speakers will include:
- Simon Plum, Head of Mission Operations, ESA
- Enrico Palmero, Head of the Australian Space Agency
- Mehran Sarkarati, Head of Ground Station Engineering Division, ESA
- Piermario Besso, Head of the Antenna & Infrastructure Section, ESA
- Suzy Jackson, New Norcia Station Manager, CSIRO
- Holger Krag, Head of the Space Safety Programme, ESA
- Nathalie Tinjod, External Relations Officer, ESA
About New Norcia 3
The European Space Agency (ESA) is expanding its deep space communication capabilities with the construction of a new 35-metre, deep space antenna at its New Norcia station, in Western Australia.
This new infrastructure aims to support upcoming ESA deep-space missions, enhance international collaboration, and strengthen ESA's presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and meet the fast-growing demand for Estrack deep-space network.
The Estrack presence in Australia is a key element of ESA's Asia-Pacific strategy and ensures the Agency maintains a diverse array of international partnerships.
New Norcia offers a strategic geographical position, complementing ESA's deep space antennas in Spain and Argentina. Spaced apart by 120 degrees longitude, these locations enable continuous, around-the-clock coverage for a deep space mission.
About Estrack
ESA's tracking station network - Estrack - is a global system of ground stations providing links between satellites in orbit and the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.
Celebrating fifty years in 2025, the Estrack network now comprises six stations in six countries. Estrack is a strategic asset, key for European autonomy in space. It is indispensable to fly ESA's earth observation, science, exploration and space safety missions.
The essential task of ESA ground tracking stations is to communicate with spacecraft, transmitting commands and receiving scientific data and spacecraft status information. It can track spacecraft almost anywhere, on every Earth orbit, at the scientifically important Sun-Earth Lagrange points, or deep into our Solar System. Estrack also provides critical tracking services for Vega-C and Ariane 6 launches.
Estrack is not just ESA's link to the valuable science data - it is a vital tool for global space collaboration, cross-support agreements with our international partners enabling mutual benefit.
Estrack is a state-of-the-art network, pushing technology boundaries to stay at the forefront of deep space communications.
More information
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About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe's gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.
ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int
ESA - European Space Agency published this content on September 16, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 16, 2025 at 11:09 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]