GOLDSTONE DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS COMPLEX — The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover arrived on Mars on Feb. 18 and that was thanks, in part, to the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex at the National Training Center and Fort Irwin.

The rover left Earth July 30, 2020, and NASA was able to communicate with the spacecraft during its dangerous entry, descent and landing phase with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) — three complexes located in Spain, Australia and Goldstone, right here at NTC/Fort Irwin.

The DSN’s antenna complex near Madrid, Spain, received news of touchdown first, though the DSN complex in Goldstone, California, was listening as well. As Perseverance moved out of earth’s direct line of sight, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) relayed engineering data to the DSN.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter also provided a recording of landing data in a less processed file format so every detail of the historic event could be sent back to Earth.

The High Desert community supported the achievement by using the hashtag #PaintTheTownRed. Barstow Community College, The Town of Apple Valley and the Lewis Center for Educational Research are a few of the businesses who were lit up in red for the event.