• NASA’s New ‘Hybrid Antenna’ Boosts Links to Deep Space

    NASA’s New ‘Hybrid Antenna’ Boosts Links to Deep Space

    NASA outfitted its aging communications network with a hybrid antenna that allowed it to receive both radio frequency and laser signals for the first time, helping the space agency keep up with its increasing number of missions traveling through deep space. Deep Space Station 13, an experimental 112-foot-long (34-meters) radio-frequency-optical-hybrid antenna, tracked and decoded a…