Ground stations

terrestrial radio station for communication with spacecraft

satellite communication system with small dish antenna

thumb|ESTRACK antenna in Cebreros|alt= The European Space Tracking (ESTRACK) network consists of a number of ground-based space-tracking stations belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The stations support various ESA spacecraft and facilitate communications between ground operators and scientific probes such as XMM-Newton, Mars Express, BepiColombo, Gaia. Similar networks are run by the USA, China, Russia, Japan, and India.

village in Noardeast-Fryslân, Netherlands