This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL’s past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. This photograph shows the first pass of Echo 1, NASA's first communications satellite, over the Goldstone Tracking Station managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, in the early morning of Aug. 12, 1960. The movement of the antenna, star trails (shorter streaks), and Echo 1 (the long streak in the middle) are visible in this image. Project Echo bounced radio signals off a 10-story-high, aluminum-coated balloon orbiting the Earth. This form of "passive" satellite communication -- which mission managers dubbed a "satelloon" -- was an idea conceived by an engineer from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and was a project managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. JPL's role involved sending and receiving signals through two of its 85-foot-diameter (26-meter-diameter) antennas at the Goldstone Tracking Station in California's Mojave Desert. The Goldstone station later became part of NASA's Deep Space Network. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Deep Space Network for NASA. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21114

Antenna dishes at NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, California, photographed on Feb. 11, 2020. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23214

This artist's concept shows what Deep Space Station-23, a new antenna dish at the Deep Space Network's complex in Goldstone, California, will look like when complete in several years. DSS-23 will communicate with NASA's deep space missions using radio waves and lasers. Retractable covers will be able to fan out across the mirrors at the center of the dish to protect them from the elements. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23617

On Feb. 11, 2020, NASA, JPL, military and local officials broke ground in Goldstone, California, for a new antenna in the agency's Deep Space Network, which communicates with all its deep space missions. When completed in 2 ½ years, the new 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) antenna dish will include mirrors and a special receiver for optical, or laser, communications from deep space missions. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23618

The 230-foot 70-meter DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, Ca. obtained these radar images of asteroid 2015 TB145 on Oct. 31, 2015. Asteroid 2015 TB145 is depicted in eight individual radar images collected on Oct. 31, 2015 between 5:55 a.m. PDT (8:55 a.m. EDT) and 6:08 a.m. PDT (9:08 a.m. EDT). At the time the radar images were taken, the asteroid was between 440,000 miles (710,000 kilometers) and about 430,000 miles (690,000 kilometers) distant. Asteroid 2015 TB145 safely flew past Earth on Oct. 31, at 10:00 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) at about 1.3 lunar distances (300,000 miles, 480,000 kilometers). To obtain the radar images, the scientists used the 230-foot (70-meter) DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, California, to transmit high power microwaves toward the asteroid. The signal bounced of the asteroid, and their radar echoes were received by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's 100-meter (330-foot) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The images achieve a spatial resolution of about 13 feet (4 meters) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20043

Images of asteroid 2007 PA8 have been generated with data collected by NASA Goldstone Solar System Radar. The images of 2007 PA8 reveal possible craters, boulders, an irregular, asymmetric shape, and very slow rotation.

Under the unflinching summer sun, workers at NASA Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif., use a crane to lift a runner segment that is part of major surgery on a giant, 70-meter-wide antenna.

Workers at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex put into place a set of support legs to help hold up a portion of the giant Mars antenna on May 4, 2010.

This collage of radar images of near-Earth asteroid 1999 JD6 was collected by NASA scientists on July 25, 2015. The images show the rotation of the asteroid, which made its closest approach on July 24 at 9:55 p.m. PDT (12:55 a.m. EDT on July 25) at a distance of about 4.5 million miles (7.2 million kilometers, or about 19 times the distance from Earth to the moon). The asteroid appears to be a contact binary -- an asteroid with two lobes that are stuck together. These views, which are radar echoes, were obtained by pairing NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, with the 330-foot (100-meter) National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. Using this approach, the Goldstone antenna beams a radar signal at an asteroid and Green Bank receives the reflections. The technique, referred to as a bistatic observation, dramatically improves the amount of detail that can be seen in radar images. The new views obtained with the technique show features as small as about 25 feet (7.5 meters) wide. The images show the asteroid is highly elongated, with a length of approximately 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) on its long axis. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19647

Beam Wave Guide antennas at Goldstone, known as the Beam Waveguide Cluster. They are located in an area at Goldstone called Apollo Valley. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in the Mojave Desert in California, USA.

Scientists using two giant, Earth-based radio telescopes bounced radar signals off passing asteroid 2011 UW158 to create images for this animation showing the rocky body's fast rotation. The passing asteroid made its closest approach to Earth on July 19, 2015 at 7:37 a.m. PST (4:37 a.m. EST) at a distance of about 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers, or 6 times the distance from Earth to the moon). The close proximity during the pass made 2011 UW158 one of the best asteroid flybys of 2015 for imaging from Earth using radar. The radar images reveal that the shape of the asteroid is extremely irregular and quite elongated. Prominent parallel, linear features run along the length of the object that cause a large increase in brightness of the radar images as they rotate into view. Scientists note that the asteroid appears to be fairly unusual. Its fast rotation suggests the object has greater mechanical strength than other asteroids its size. A fast-rotating asteroid with lower mechanical strength would tend to split apart. To obtain the views, researchers paired the 230-foot- (70-meter-) wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, in concert with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's 330-foot (100-meter) Green Bank Telescope. Using this technique, the Goldstone antenna beams a radar signal at an asteroid and Green Bank receives the reflections. The technique, referred to as a bi-static observation, dramatically improves the amount of detail that can be seen in radar images. The new views obtained with the technique show features as small as about 24 feet (7.5 meters) wide. The 171 individual images used in the movie were generated from data collected on July 18. They show the asteroid is approximately 2000 by 1000 feet (600 by 300 meters) across. The observations also confirm earlier estimates by astronomers that the asteroid rotates quickly, completing one spin in just over half an hour. The movie spans a period of about an hour and 45 minutes. The trajectory of asteroid 2011 UW158 is well understood. This flyby was the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next 93 years. Asteroid 2011 UW158 was discovered on October 25, 2011, by the PanSTARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. Managed by the University of Hawaii, the PanSTARRS survey receives NASA funding. Radar is a powerful technique for studying an asteroid's size, shape, rotation state, surface features and surface roughness, and for improving the calculation of asteroid orbits. Radar measurements of asteroid distances and velocities often enable computation of asteroid orbits much further into the future than if radar observations weren't available. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19644

NASA Deep Space Network, Goldstone radar images show triple asteroid 1994 CC, which consists of a central object approximately 700 meters 2,300 feet in diameter and two smaller moons that orbit the central body. Animation available at the Photojournal

A worker at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex radios to his colleagues that 12 jacks are ready to lift the upper section of the giant Mars antenna.

This radar imagery of asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon was generated from data collected by NASA 230-foot-wide 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., on June 1, 2013.

Workers at NASA Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif., pour in a new epoxy grout as the giant Mars

This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was obtained NASA Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. on Nov. 7, 2011, when the space rock was at 3.6 lunar distances, which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometers, from Earth.

Workers at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex check on a set of jacks used to raise the upper part of the giant Mars antenna.

These radar images of comet P/2016 BA14 were taken on March 23, 2016, by scientists using an antenna of NASA Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. At the time, the comet was about 2.2 million miles 3.6 million kilometers from Earth.

This image, taken on March 22, 2010, shows the condition of grout that was replaced in the giant Mars antenna at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone, Calif. complex.

This image of an asteroid that is at least 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) long was taken on Dec. 17, 2015, by scientists using NASA's 230-foot (70-meter) DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, California. This asteroid, named 2003 SD2020, will safely fly past Earth on Thursday, Dec. 24, at a distance of 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers). At the time this image was taken, the asteroid was about 7.3 million miles (12 million kilometers) from Earth. In 2018, this asteroid will fly past Earth at a distance of 1.8 million miles (2.8 million kilometers). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20279

This radar image of asteroid 1999 RQ36 was obtained NASA Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. on Sept 23, 1999. NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes.

This image of asteroid Toutatis was generated with data collected using NASA Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., on Dec. 12 and 13, 2012 and indicates that it is an elongated, irregularly shaped object with ridges and perhaps craters.

On May 3, 2010, workers at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex removed one of the large steel pads that help the giant Mars antenna rotate sideways.

Work began on March 11, 2010 to replace a set of elevation bearings on the giant Mars antenna at NASA Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif.

The giant Mars antenna at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex replaced four elevation bearings as part of a major refurbishment.

This composite image depicts the moon rugged south polar region in two lights. The color image is the highest resolution topography map to date of the moon south pole.

This sequence of radar images of asteroid 2013 ET was obtained on Mar. 10, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot 70-meter DSN antenna at Goldstone, CA, when the asteroid was about 693,000 mi 1.1 million km from Earth.

This frame from a movie made from radar images of asteroid 1999 JD6 was collected by NASA scientists on July 25, 2015. The images show the rotation of the asteroid, which made its closest approach on July 24 at 9:55 p.m. PDT (12:55 a.m. EDT on July 25) at a distance of about 4.5 million miles (7.2 million kilometers, or about 19 times the distance from Earth to the moon). The asteroid appears to be a contact binary -- an asteroid with two lobes that are stuck together. The radar images show the asteroid is highly elongated, with a length of approximately 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) on its long axis. These images are radar echoes, which are more like a sonogram than a photograph. The views were obtained by pairing NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, with the 330-foot (100-meter) National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. Using this approach, the Goldstone antenna beams a radar signal at an asteroid and Green Bank receives the reflections. The technique, referred to as a bistatic observation, dramatically improves the amount of detail that can be seen in radar images. The new views obtained with the technique show features as small as about 25 feet (7.5 meters) wide. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19646

A major refurbishment of the giant Mars antenna at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California Mojave Desert required workers to jack up millions of pounds of delicate scientific equipment.

This composite image of asteroid 2007 PA8 was obtained using data taken by NASA 230-foot-wide 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif.

This composite of 30 images of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated with radar data collected using NASA Goldstone Solar System Radar in California Mojave Desert. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21594

Late night in the desert: Goldstone 230-foot 70-meter antenna tracks spacecraft day and night. This photograph was taken on Jan. 11, 2012. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in the Mojave Desert in California, USA.

As part of a major refurbishment for the giant Mars antenna at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, a stringer box is lowered into place.

Workers in Goldstone, Calif., guide a new runner segment into the hydrostatic bearing assembly of a giant, 70-meter-wide 230-foot-wide antenna that is a critical part of NASA Deep Space Network.

Goldstone 111.5-foot 34-meter Beam Waveguide tracks a spacecraft as it comes into view. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in the Mojave Desert in California, USA.

Goldstone 230-foot 70-m antenna tracks under a full moon. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is located in the Mojave Desert in California, USA.

Asteroid 1998 WT24 left in December 2001, right on December 11, 2015 taken by NASA the 230-foot 70-meter DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, California.

NASA scientists used Earth-based radar to produce these sharp views -- an image montage and a movie sequence -- of the asteroid designated 2014 HQ124 on June 8, 2014.

The giant, 70-meter-wide antenna at NASA Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, Calif., tracks a spacecraft on Nov. 17, 2009. This antenna, officially known as Deep Space Station 14, is also nicknamed the Mars antenna.

Workers at NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex prepare a support leg that would help raise a portion of the giant Mars antenna.

This collage of radar images of near-Earth asteroid 2005 WK4 was collected by NASA scientists using the 230-foot 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., on Aug. 8, 2013.

These radar images of comet P/2016 BA14 were taken on March 22, 2016, by scientists using an antenna of NASA Deep Space Network at Goldstone, CA. At the time, the comet was about 2.2 million miles 3.6 million kilometers from Earth.

An engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., checks the evenness of sole plates installed on the giant Mars

As the sun sets on July 8, 2010, workers prepare to pour new epoxy grout for the hydrostatic bearing assembly of the giant Mars

Night shot of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The parabolic dish is 70m 230 ft. in diameter. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA DSN.

The elongated asteroid in this radar image, named 2003 SD220, will safely fly past Earth on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015, at a distance of 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers). The image was taken on Dec. 22 by scientists using NASA's 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, when the asteroid was approaching its flyby distance. This asteroid is at least 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) long. In 2018, it will safely pass Earth at a distance of 1.8 million miles (2.8 million kilometers). http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20280

This frame from a movie of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated using radar data collected by NASA 230-foot-wide 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California on April 19, 2017. When the observations began 2014 JO25 was 1.53 million miles (2.47 million kilometers) from Earth. By the time the observations concluded, the asteroid was 1.61 million miles (2.59 million kilometers) away. The asteroid has a contact binary structure -- two lobes connected by a neck-like region. The largest of the asteroid's two lobes is estimated to be 2,000 feet (610 meters) across. Asteroid 2014 JO25 approached to within 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) of Earth on April 19. There are no future flybys by 2014 JO25 as close as this one for more than 400 years. The resolution of the radar images is about 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. 154 images were used to create a movie. The movie can be seen at. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21597

This composite of 11 images of asteroid 2017 BQ6 was generated with radar data collected using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert on Feb. 5, 2017, between 5:24 and 5:52 p.m. PST (8:24 to 8:52 p.m. EST / 1:24 to 1:52 UTC). The images have resolutions as fine as 12 feet (3.75 meters) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21453

This composite of 25 images of asteroid 2017 BQ6 was generated with radar data collected using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert. The images were gathered on Feb. 7, 2017, between 8:39 and 9:50 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST and 12:50 a.m., Feb. 7), revealing an irregular, angular-appearing asteroid about 660 feet (200 meters) in size that rotates about once every three hours. The images have resolutions as fine as 12 feet (3.75 meters) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21452

In the early morning of Dec. 18, 2024, a crane looms over the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish, which will soon be lowered into position on the antenna's base structure. Located at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, DSS-23 is a multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna that will boost the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. In the background are, from left to right, the beam waveguide antennas DSS-25 and DSS-26, and the decommissioned 85-foot (26-meter) Apollo antenna. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26456

Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California – part of the agency's Deep Space Network – is a 34-meter (112-foot) experimental antenna that has been retrofitted with an optical terminal (the boxy instrument below the center of the antenna's dish). Since November 2023, DSS-13 has been tracking the downlink laser of the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment that is aboard NASA's Psyche mission, which launched on Oct. 13, 2023. In a first, the antenna also synchronously received radio-frequency signals from the spacecraft as it travels through deep space on its way to investigate the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The laser signal collected by the camera is then transmitted through optical fiber that feeds into a cryogenically cooled semiconducting nanowire single photon detector. Designed and built by JPL's Microdevices Laboratory, the detector is identical to the one used at Caltech's Palomar Observatory, in San Diego County, California, that acts as DSOC's downlink ground station. Goldstone is one of three complexes that comprise NASA's Deep Space Network, which provides radio communications for all of the agency's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the DSN for the agency. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26148

S69-39563 (20 July 1969) --- Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (left), commander, and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, are seen standing by the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" ladder in this black and white reproduction taken from a telecast by the Apollo 11 lunar surface television camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA). This picture was made from a televised image received at the Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking station at Goldstone, California. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar orbit.

A crane lowers the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish into position on Dec. 18, 2024, at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. Once online in 2026, DSS-23 will be the fifth of six new beam waveguide antennas to be added to the network, following DSS-53, which was added at the DSN's Madrid complex in 2022. After the reflector skeleton was bolted into place, engineers placed what's called a quadripod into the center of the structure. A four-legged support structure weighing 16 ½ tons, the quadripod is fitted with a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna's pedestal where the antenna's receivers are housed. Next steps: to fit panels onto the steel skeleton of the parabolic reflector to create a curved surface to collect radio frequency signals. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26454

A crane lowers a four-legged support structure called a quadripod onto the steel framework of the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish on Dec. 18, 2024. The reflector framework was bolted into place earlier in the day, and the quadripod, which weighs 16 ½ tons, was the last major component to be installed that day. The reflector dish will be fitted with panels to create a curved surface to collect radio frequency signals. The quadripod features a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna's receiver in its pedestal, where the antenna's receivers are housed. The new 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) dish is located at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will come online in 2026, boosting the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. It is the fifth of six new beam waveguide antennas to be added to the network, following DSS-53, which was added at the DSN's Madrid complex in 2022. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26455

In a historic first, all six radio frequency antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex – part of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) – carried out a test to receive data from the agency's Voyager 1 spacecraft at the same time on April 20, 2024. Known as "arraying," combining the receiving power of several antennas allows the DSN to collect the very faint signals from faraway spacecraft. A five-antenna array is currently needed to downlink science data from the spacecraft's Plasma Wave System (PWS) instrument. As Voyager gets further way, six antennas will be needed. The Voyager team is currently working to fix an issue on the spacecraft that has prevented it from sending back science data since November. Though the antennas located at the DSN's three complexes – Goldstone in California, Canberra in Australia, and Madrid – have been arrayed before, this is the first instance of six antennas being arrayed at once. Madrid is the only deep space communication complex currently with six operational antennas (the other two complexes have four apiece). Each complex consists of one 70-meter (230-foot) antenna and several 34-meter (112-foot) antennas. Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, so its signal on Earth is far fainter than any other spacecraft with which the DSN communicates. It currently takes Voyager 1's signal over 22 ½ hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. To better receive Voyager 1's radio communications, a large antenna – or an array of multiple smaller antennas – can be used. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft ever to fly in interstellar space (the space between stars). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26147

S69-39562 (20 July 1969) --- Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (center), commander; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (right), lunar module pilot, are seen standing near their Lunar Module (LM) in this black and white reproduction taken from a telecast by the Apollo 11 lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA). This picture was made from a televised image received at the Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking station at Goldstone, California. United States President Richard M. Nixon had just spoken to the two astronauts by radio. Aldrin, a Colonel in the United States Air Force, is saluting the Commander-in-Chief. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the LM "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar orbit.

After traveling more than 1.5 billion km (948 million mi.), the Magellan spacecraft was inserted into orbit around Venus on Aug. 10, 1990. This mosaic consists of adjacent pieces of two magellan image strips obtained in the first radar test. The radar test was part of a planned In-Orbit Checkout sequence designed to prepare the magellan spacecraft and radar to begin mapping after Aug. 31. The strip on the left was returned to the Goldstone Deep Space Network station in California; the strip to the right was received at the DSN in Canberra, Australia. A third station that will be receiving Magellan data is locaterd near Madrid, Spain. Each image strip is 20 km (12 mi.) wide and 16,000 km (10,000 mi.) long. This mosaic is a small portion 80 km (50 mi.) long. This image is centered at 21 degrees north latitude and 286.8 degrees east longitude, southeast of a volcanic highland region called Beta Regio. The resolution of the image is about 120 meters (400 feet), 10 times better than revious images of the same area of Venus, revealing many new geologic features. The bright line trending northwest-southeast across the center of the image is a fracture or fault zone cutting the volcanic plains. In the upper lest corner of the image, a multiple-ring circular feature of probable volcanic origin can be seen, approx. 4.27 km (2.65 mi.) across. The bright and dark variations seen in the plains surrounding these features correspond to volcanic lava flows of varying ages. The volcanic lava flows in the southern half of the image have been cut by north-south trending faults. This area is similar geologically to volcanic deposits seen on Earth at Hawaii and the Snake River Plains in Idaho.