Until 2002, ESA lacked its own means to communicate with ships destined to other planets, or in very distant orbits and depended on NASA's network of listeners to receive the data collected by them.
Até 2002, a ESA carecía de medios propios para comunicarse con naves destinadas a outros planetas, ou situadas en órbitas moi afastadas, e dependía da rede de escoita da NASA para recibir os datos solicitados por estes.