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

In order to improve the 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 a large parabolic reflector with a beam system, and sensitive receive links with cryogenically cooled low-noise amplifiers. The array signal processing platform is developed for combining signals from several antennas to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The single new antenna has an X-band 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.