Yatharagga is an area associated with a homestead in the mid west of Western Australia (WA) near Yarragadee Station. It is located about north-west of Mingenew and about south-east of Geraldton.
The area is also associated with two Australian Earth stations and a geodetic observatory with space related tracking systems at the West Australian Space Centre.
Homestead The Yatharagga is a homestead listed by the Gazetteer of Australia.
Yatharagga Satellite Station Yatharagga Satellite Station also known as West Australian Space Centre is owned and run by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC)'s subsidiary SSC Space Australia, and services a number of government agencies and commercial organisations. It commenced operations under SSC in 2012.
Dongara Satellite Station Dongara Satellite Station is adjacent to Yatharagga Satellite Station, and acts as mutual backup to the site. It is also part of the Swedish Space Corporation, but is owned by the US subsidiary.
Yarragadee Geodetic Observatory Near the homestead is Geoscience Australia's Yarragadee Geodetic Observatory.Yarragadee: the ‘geodetic supersite’ in the West Australian desert Geoscience Australia, 2023 It hosts and operates NASA's MOBLAS 5 Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stationstation information from International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) originally established by an agreement between the United States of America and Australia effective 27 June 1978 to establish a NASA Temporary Mobile Satellite Laser Tracking Facility."Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement amending the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America concerning Space Vehicle Tracking and Communication Facilities of 25 March 1970 ATS 12 of 1978 " . Australasian Legal Information Institute, Australian Treaties Library. Retrieved on 15 April 2017.
DORIS Near the MOBLAS facility is a DORIS (geodesy) beacon, provided by France's CNES."Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the French Republic on a Programme involving the Establishment and Use of the "DORIS" Precise Satellite Location Beacon System in Australia ATS 34 of 1994” . Australasian Legal Information Institute, Australian Treaties Library. Retrieved on 15 April 2017.
VLBI radio telescope The site also hosts an AuScope 12m VLBI radio telescope since 2011.Satake, Kenji (ed) (2010) Advances In Geosciences Volume 20: Solid Earth p207
References
External links Yatharagga: Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) Station Carnarvon Space SSC Space Australia - Western Australia Space Center Dongara 13m tracking station ESA SSC Universal Space Network - Dongara Satellite Station