NASA Restores Guam Remote Station After Super Typhoon Mawar

NASA has fully restored its Guam Remote Station after more than three years of recovery work following Super Typhoon Mawar’s destruction of the site in 2023. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 10 marked the station’s return to full service after engineers completed the final and most complex stage of the rebuild on July 1: returning its central antenna to operation.

Why NASA’s Guam Remote Station Matters

For nearly 30 years, the Guam Remote Station has been one of three ground stations supporting NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system, a critical part of the Near Space Network. From approximately 32,000 miles above Earth, the relay system connects spacecraft in low Earth orbit with ground-based flight controllers.

The network allows controllers to communicate with astronauts, send commands to spacecraft and receive mission data. Guam is the only station that closes the orbital “no-go zone”—the portion of an orbit beyond the line of sight of the relay stations. Without that coverage, the International Space Station could lose contact with Earth for up to 20 minutes during every 90-minute orbit, creating an unacceptable risk for crewed missions.

Typhoon Mawar Damaged NASA’s Guam Facilities

On May 24, 2023, Category 4 Super Typhoon Mawar struck Guam with winds reaching 185 mph and more than 28 inches of rain. The storm destroyed two 16.5-meter antennas and damaged the 11-meter North Antenna and NASA’s Base Interfacility Link building.

The storm also reopened the exclusion zone for the first time since 1998, reducing TDRS coverage to approximately 85% of the spacecraft’s orbit.

Emergency Repairs Kept NASA Missions Connected

NASA made emergency repairs to the least damaged antenna and borrowed two mobile communications devices from the U.S. military to extend the station’s communications range. These temporary measures restored partial service within a few months, in time to support a spacewalk in November 2023.

Rebuilding and Upgrading the Near Space Network

In early 2025, Congress provided disaster relief funds to rebuild NASA ground stations and strengthen the network against future storms. Construction began that summer and was completed in summer 2026, when the rebuilt central antenna returned to TDRS operations and the exclusion zone was closed again.

The same funding also supported significant upgrades at three additional Near Space Network ground stations.

NASA Honors Guam Recovery Teams

Representatives from NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Division joined station staff and local leaders at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the central antenna’s return to service.

The Guam team was recognized for leading debris removal, site security and island recovery efforts while continuing NASA’s mission through the power outage and rebuilding. Held at NASA’s White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the ceremony also honored engineers and experts from across SCaN who supported the recovery efforts from off-island.

“Returning Guam Remote Station’s central antenna to service is much more than restoring a critical piece of infrastructure. It is a testament to the dedication, resiliency and ingenuity of those who made it possible,” said Jenna Garrahy, deputy program manager for network operations. “Despite long days, difficult conditions, and unexpected obstacles, this team remained focused every day on the mission that relies on these critical assets.”

Who Operates NASA’s Near Space Network?

NASA’s Near Space Network is funded by SCaN, a division of NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The network operates from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, while repairs to the Guam Remote Station were managed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.