Soviet Deep Space Network

The first Soviet space communications network had 13 stations and was designed to track Earth orbiting satellites, not deep space probes. Interplanetary missions require larger antennas, more powerful transmitters, and more sensitive receivers, and an effort was started in 1959 to support the planned 1960 launch of the Venera series of missions to Venus and the Mars program of spacecraft to Mars. The selected design consisted of eight 16-meter dishes placed on two hulls of diesel submarines, == Facilities ==

There were four main antennas in the Russian Deep Space Network: at Bear Lakes, near Moscow, Russia • A 64-meter antenna at Kalyazin, Russia • A 70-meter antenna at Yevpatoria in Crimea, currently occupied by Russia • A 70-meter antenna at Galenki near Ussuriisk, in Primorsky Krai, Russia • A 70-meter antenna on the Suffa plateau in Uzbekistan was never completed == Missions ==

Some of the Soviet space program missions that have communicated by the Soviet DSN include: • Venera 11 and Venera 12 • Venera 13, Venera 14, Venera 15, Venera 16 • Vega program • Astron • Phobos program • Granat • Interball • Spektr-R • Fobos-Grunt (in 2011) == References ==