Enlarge / An antenna at NASA's Deep Space Network station near Madrid.

 Enlarge / An antenna at NASA's Deep Space Network station near Madrid.

Because astronauts are involved, the Artemis missions will come with unique requirements on the DSN.

"We're not going to have bits of data. We're going to have gigabits of data," said Philip Baldwin, acting director of the network services division at JPL. "I don't want 1080p for video resolution. I want 8K video."

Each of the three stations on the Deep Space Network has a 70-meter (230-foot) dish antenna, the largest antennas in the world for deep space communications. Each location also has at least three 112-foot (34-meter) antennas. The oldest of the large antennas in California entered service in 1966, then was enlarged to its 70-meter diameter in 1988.

“We have reached a really critical point on the DSN’s aging infrastructure," said Sandra Cauffman, deputy director of NASA's astrophysics division.