NASA has released a panoramic image showing five antennas at the Goldstone complex near Barstow, California. The photograph, taken in August 2026, features the newly completed 34-meter Deep Space Station 23, along with the DSS-26, DSS-25 and DSS-24 antennas. At the far right of the frame is the retired 26-meter “Apollo Antenna,” built in 1967 and used to track the Apollo Program.
A ceremony held for DSS-23 on 25 August 2026 unveiled the final antenna added to the network under the Aperture Enhancement Project, which began in 2009. The Deep Space Network is used to track distant spacecraft, send commands and receive scientific data.
Why it matters
This arrangement at the Goldstone complex shows that the Deep Space Network is not merely infrastructure used to track past space missions, but an expanded network that continues to communicate with distant spacecraft and receive scientific data. The fact that DSS-23 is the final antenna under the Aperture Enhancement Project points to the completion at this center of the capacity expansion process that began in 2009. The presence in the same frame of the retired antenna once used to track the Apollo Program alongside the new antennas makes NASA’s different eras of space communications visible for comparison. However, the information provided does not offer details on which missions or spacecraft the new antenna will be used for. Therefore, the image provides context mainly about the continuity and transformation of the infrastructure rather than its technical function.
Background
Goldstone is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we published a news report mentioning it in the past 90 days; that article is dated 1 September 2026.