The European Space Agency opened its first Deep Space listening post in Australia this week, giving it the ability to launch and keep in contact with spacecraft beyond Jupiters orbit. Previously, the ESA has had to rely on renting time from NASA’s Deep Space Network.
Competition is always a good thing. When the ESA can create a full scale Deep Space network, the private sector will benefit from the price-shopping ability to conduct its own space exploration, perhaps moving the space mining industry forward.
