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Aligning the High-Gain Antenna

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At the antenna test range at APL, in Laurel, Md., an engineer aligns a STEREO high-gain antenna in preparation for radio frequency (RF) system tests. As the primary spacecraft communication system, the RF system enables two-way communication between the spacecraft and scientists on the ground. It's used to downlink data (typically through a high-gain antenna) from, or uplink commands to, a spacecraft.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory