Equipment failures in NASA’s Deep Space Network have disrupted spacecraft communications and postponed near-Earth asteroid studies for almost two months. Amid a federal government shutdown, engineers are striving to repair the agency’s iconic 230-foot-wide radio dish located near Barstow, California, which malfunctioned on September 16. Referred to as the Mars Antenna since 1966 for capturing the first signals from a spacecraft closely monitoring Mars, the dish over-rotated during operations, inflicting damage on cables and pipes at its center. Flooding from compromised fire suppression hoses was swiftly managed, according to NASA. A formal mishap investigation board has been formed to ascertain the cause of the damage. “The antenna remains offline as assessments and repairs are ongoing,” stated Ian O’Neill, a spokesperson for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “There is no threat to the public.” Due to the shutdown, NASA staff were unable to address inquiries for several weeks. However, with a Senate vote suggesting progress toward government reopening, the agency began to share limited updates. The timeline for repairs is uncertain, raising concerns about the implications for preparations for Artemis II, a 10-day crewed mission to orbit the moon as soon as next year. Its predecessor, Artemis I, necessitated more than 900 hours of Deep Space Network assistance in 2022 and briefly lost connection during its flight, underscoring the system’s susceptibility. Established in 1963, NASA’s Deep Space Network is the largest and most robust system for communicating with spacecraft, managing over 40 missions. Its three antenna complexes in California, Spain, and Australia ensure uninterrupted communication as the Earth turns. On its 50th anniversary in 2013, former manager Al Bhanji highlighted the system’s vital importance in NASA’s space initiatives. “Without the DSN, we wouldn’t have been able to embark on journeys to Mercury and Venus, explore asteroids and comets,” Bhanji stated. The network is known to be overloaded, with the NASA inspector general calling for infrastructure enhancements. Data transmission has surged dramatically over 30 years, surpassing the system’s capacity by 40 percent. Under NASA’s Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Program, six new dishes, including a 112-foot-wide antenna in California, are planned for 2026. The damaged Mars Antenna, the largest dish at the Goldstone Complex, monitors spacecraft billions of miles away from Earth. Expanded in 1988 to assist the Voyager 2 mission, it has since exited the solar system alongside Voyager 1. As the world’s most sensitive planetary radar, the dish is utilized to “ping” near-Earth asteroids, enabling scientists to ascertain their position and velocity, essential for tracking possible Earth impacts. Radar imagery offers insights into asteroids’ physical characteristics, such as shapes and dimensions. Following the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in 2020, the NASA dish intensified its radio astronomy initiatives, detecting more than 200 near-Earth asteroids, with over half designated as “potentially hazardous.” It’s unclear how long the antenna will be offline, but all scheduled asteroid observations have been canceled through the end of the year. “NASA will provide details on the board’s conclusions and subsequent actions once the federal government reopens,” a spokesperson shared. While such network failures are infrequent, the Mojave desert antenna has triumphed over setbacks previously, including a 2014 incident where a welder inadvertently punctured the dish and a 1992 earthquake that necessitated repairs.