The European Deep Space Antenna Alliance (E-DSA²) formed by Thales Alenia Space, Schwartz Hautmont and mtex antenna technology, celebrated the inauguration of the European Space Agency’s NNO-3 deep space antenna masterpiece for the New Norcia ground station near Perth, Australia, on October 4. NNO-3 is part of ESA’s ESTRACK global network of ground stations.

This new-generation 35-meter antenna will enable ESA to increase its communication capabilities in X, K and Ka frequency bands. It will expand its antennas network made for tracking and collecting scientific data from ESA spacecraft in the solar system, including missions such as the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, currently orbiting around the Red Planed or Euclid which will cover one third of the sky studying dark matter and energy, to name a few. These jewels of high technology will be joined by upcoming missions such as Plato, designed to detect and observe exoplanets, whose launch is scheduled for next year, according to a statement issued on October 6, 2025.

Days ago, NNO-3 successfully received its first signal coming from the Euclid spacecraft. The deep-space antenna challenge is to pick up very faint signals and then boost them considerably for transmission from and to objects in deep space, to enable reception of science data and uploading of commands to space probes.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint-venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), is the consortium partner in charge of the antenna’s overall performance. The company was also responsible for the antenna systems engineering, the overall system and equipment (radio frequency, power, cooling). Schwartz-Hautmont was responsible for the antenna mechanical structure engineering, manufacturing and installation. mtex antenna technology was in charge of the antenna mechanical design, procurement, installation and testing.