European space station inaugurated in Spain

• The 35-metre deep space antenna joins the ESTRACK ground station network just in time to support next month's launch of Venus Express.
• The Cebreros deep space antenna, DSA 2, joins DSA 1 in New Norcia, Ausstralia, as ESA's second station intended for communication with far distant planetary missions, starting with Venus Express and later to include missions to Mercury and other destinations in the Solar System.
• Media interviews during the Cebreros inauguration The ceremony took place under a blue, cloud-free sky, emphasising the choice of Cebreros's rural location, intended to minimise interference from commercial and population centres.
• The launch event was attended by ESA Director of Science, David Southwood, the Director of Operations and Infrastructure, Gaele Winters, and the Director of the European Centre for Space Astronomy (ESAC), Vicente G�mez.
• Featuring state-of-the-art technology, Cebreros will be capable of supporting Herschel Planck, LISA Pathfinder, Gaia and BepiColombo, among others, all scheduled for launch in the next decade.
• The antenna and related site facilities were completed earlier this year by an industrial group led by SED Systems, Canada; the antenna was built by Germany's Vertex Antennentechnik.
• Spanish firms Esteyco and Necso built the antenna tower infrastructure, and LV Salamanca was responsible for refurbishing the site buildings, which had previously been used by NASA --- also as a tracking station --- in the 1960s and 70s.
• A third deep space antenna is planned for construction at an American longitude, some 120 degrees between Cebreros and New Norcia, later this decade, providing full, 360 degree coverage as the Earth rotates.
• ESA's ESTRACK ground station network comprises 8 ground tracking stations in Europe, Africa, South America and Australia linking satellites with a central control facility at ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany.