NASA officials broke ground near Canberra, Australia in Feburary this year, beginning a new antenna-building campaign to improve Deep Space Network communications. This is part of a NASA project to replace its fleet of 70-meter-wide dishes with a new generation of 34-meter antennas by 2025. Three 70-meter antennas, which are more than 40 years old are located at the NASA Deep Space Network complexes at Goldstone California, Madrid Spain, and Canberra Australia. The new antennas can be used more flexibly, allowing the network to operate on several different frequency bands within the same antenna. Its electronic equipment is more accessible, making maintenance easier and less costly. They also receive higher-frequency, wider-bandwidth signals known as the "Ka band," which allows the newer antennas to carry more data. In the first phase of the project near Canberra, NASA expects to complete the building of up to three 34-meter antennas by 2018. Photo credit: NASA