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An 'antenna feed' connects the physical antenna to the electronic transmitter and receiver. Thanks to a new upgrade being rolled out at ESA’s three 35-metre deep-space antennas, the feed at each station will be cooled to just 10 degrees above absolute zero (about -263°C).
These upgrades will increase the amount of data that can be downlinked to the stations from spacecraft by up to 40%, allowing more high-definition images of the Sun to be received from Solar Orbiter during one communication window, for example.
Future upgrades across higher frequency bands will mean an increase of 80 % more data can be downloaded – that’s almost double the deep space data reaching ESA's space operations centre in Darmstadt!
This clever tech will also increase the sensitivity of ESA deep space antennas, extending their range to support future ESA missions that venture as far as Uranus and Neptune.