Keeping Explorers Connected
The Exploration and Space Communications (ESC) projects division recognizes that every moment is an opportunity for action. We stand ready to provide cross-cutting technical expertise and creative problem-solving to deliver not only high rate/full coverage communications services, but bold, forward-thinking solutions to advance exploration and discovery.
Our networks
The Space Network and the Near Earth Network, two vital pieces of space communications infrastructure managed by ESC, bring down 98 percent of the data from NASA spacecraft every day.
Innovation
ESC engineers play a critical role in enabling NASA to explore more of our universe than ever before, crafting cutting-edge solutions for the next generation of science and discovery.
Impact
Exploration and Space Communications projects affect billions of lives around the globe, from creating technology for search and rescue to bringing down data used in weather forecasting and much more.
Expertise in…
Communicating is at the heart of every human endeavor, but it becomes especially important when communicating with humans and spacecraft hundreds to billions of miles off of Earth’s surface.
Our two networks combine to bring down the equivalent of 1,200 Blu-ray discs of data per day. That’s about 98 percent of the data from all NASA missions.
We provide communications support for more than 50 scientific, technology and human spaceflight missions.
We advance emerging technologies such as optical communications, quantum communications, disruption tolerant networking and more.
Though NASA is most known for its remarkable science missions, the agency is also called to explore our universe. ESC adapts technologies developed for science to enable human spaceflight.
Our exploration team supports more than 15 NASA missions and initiatives at any one time.
We leverage Goddard’s experience building robotic missions to enable bold exploration endeavors.
The team serves on a number of critical NASA exploration teams and collaborates with many organizations across the agency.
Every space mission requires intricate navigation systems to ensure they arrive at their intended destinations. Whether NASA is sending spacecraft to the Sun or interstellar space, our navigation engineers develop technology to help.
Accurate navigation is critical to every NASA mission, but especially as the agency sends humans deeper into space than ever before.
Navigation experts supporting ESC are developing technologies which would enable spacecraft to navigate autonomously.
ESC is exploring the use of signals from satellites intended for navigation on Earth to navigate within low Earth orbit and beyond.
Enabling NASA’s scientific exploration and discovery. Without communications and navigation, there is no mission. Contact Us
Interested in learning more about how Exploration and Space Communications can help you? Click on the link below to get in touch, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. We look forward to supporting you!