The Kashi 4×35-m Antenna Array for Deep Space Telecommunication and Radio Science Observation

In order to improve mission support capacity and data receiving capability of the Kashi Deep Space Station, four 35-m diameter parabolic antennas have been built and tested. They can work independently or as an array, allowing the Kashi station to support future missions by a variable number of antennas according to the mission requirement, and thereby to optimize the use of antenna resources. These four 35-m antennas have large parabolic reflector with a beam waveguide (BWG) system, and sensitive receive links with cryogenically cooled low noise amplifiers (LNAs). The array signal processing platform is developed for combing signals from several antennas to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The single new antenna has Xband G/T value of 52.5 dB/K in average, and a total of 58 dB/K can be expected at medium elevation angles when arraying all four antennas together.