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Location
The USN Dongara station is located at roughly 400 kilometers northwest of Perth in Western Australia. The station is located
29º 03' south latitude and 115º 21' east longitude and is situated
250 meters above sea level.
The location at only 29.2º south of the equator is particularly advantageous for accessing low-inclination orbiting satellites. It is also frequently used for geostationary orbit raising operations, and very frequently is used for first acquisition of launch vehicle and spacecraft telemetry at orbit insertion/deployment. It is also well used for low-earth orbiter (LEO) missions for both orbit raising and daily pass supports for polar and low inclination orbiting satellites. It compliments the PrioraNet stations by providing additional contact opportunities for LEO missions (including polar) and also as part of a GEO orbit raising network that would include PrioraNet stations in Santiago Chile and South Point Hawaii.
Climate
Located in Western Australia, the Dongara ground station is situated within the Yatharraga district which hosts several very large farms and ranches. The temperature is generally warm at roughly 27 – 29ºC with variation of +/-3ºC year-round. The summers are warm, but not hot and rainfall ranging from 6 or 7 mm per month from Nov through Feb to 70 or 80 mm per month from May through August.
Access
The Dongara ground station is roughly 360 kilometers from Perth Australia and is accessible from the Geraldton, Western Australia airport. The flight time from Perth to Geraldton is roughly 1 hour. Car rental agencies and hotels are located in Geraldton and also in Dongara making either city accessible to the ground station.
Contact Point
For all matters related to daily operations at the USN Dongara Ground Station contact should be made with the USN Network Management Center personnel at the numbers shown below.
The post address
Universal Space Network, Inc
Yatharagga Site
North Depot Hill Road
Mingenew Western Australia
6522
Telephone and fax
Phone: +1-215-328-9130
Fax: +1-215-328-9132
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Antennas and basebands
The Dongara Ground Station includes two independent antennas with capabilities for Telemetry Tracking & Command (TT&C) and Data Downlink services. The Ground station supports multiple frequency bands including, S-Band (up and down), X-Band (up and down), Ku-Band (up and down). The ground station also includes an operational building which houses system electronics and data processing equipment.
Space is available in both the equipment housing and on the land to host customer-owned antenna equipment.
More detailed information can be provided upon request. Contact us.
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