The operations center at JHU will "talk" to the FUSE satellite primarily through a single ground station located at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. About six to seven times each day, for about 10-12 minutes at a time, FUSE controllers will be able to send instructions up to the satellite and receive transmissions of its precious data back to the ground. The rest of the time, the satellite is "on its own", operating autonomously based on the commands that have been uplinked.

Caption: View showing protective Radome over the re-installed FUSE Ground Station Antenna (March 1999). The antennae was heavily damaged in hurricane Georges when it ripped through Puerto Rico in September 1998. (See Status Report #3. The Radome is engineered to protect the antenna in the event of a similar occurrence during the operational lifetime of the FUSE satellite.

Caption: FUSE Ground Station Antenna being installed in Puerto Rico (March 1998). This photo shows the FUSE ground system antenna as it is being installed on top of a University of Puerto Rico building in Mayaguez.

Caption: FUSE Ground Station Antenna being tested prior to delivery to the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (photo taken summer 1997).