Watching Over the Deep Space Network Before Artemis II Signal Acquisition

Blanca Renteria, chief operating officer of the Artemis Deep Space Network (DSN), monitors data at the Space Flight Operations Center at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California shortly after the launch of Artemis II from the agency’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida, April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. EDT.

The Space Flight Operations Facility operates the DSN, which includes three complexes in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. Each complex consists of several radio frequency antennas that communicate with dozens of robotic spacecraft exploring the solar system in addition to the Artemis II crewed mission.

The DSN is managed by JPL for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation Program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands, and receive scientific data from deep spacecraft. JPL is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA.

For more information about Artemis II, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/