54 ASTRONOMY • JANUARY 2020
blip on a monitor that signified all was
well with the hardy craft, now some 11
billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth.
At Parkes, we were privileged to have
a behind-the-scenes tour, including a visit
inside the telescope’s control room.
While many of the instru-
ments are distinctly mod-
ern, some of the control
panels and hardware ref lect
the facility’s half-century-
plus history.
“You can see the old
paneling, the old labeling
that people have used,
that have long since peeled
off or turned yellow,”
Kaczmarek said. She men-
tioned how she recently
opened a cupboard and
discovered documents
from the 1960s. “And it
kind of instantly hits you in
the face and reminds you, ‘I
work in a piece of history.’ ”
Incidentally, the town of
Parkes is known for more
than its enormous radio telescope. Each
January it hosts the Parkes Elvis Festival,
and all manner of Elvis-related billboards
and posters can be seen scattered around
the town. If only our visit had been a few
weeks later!
The Canberra Deep Space
Communication Complex
While most of the observatories we
visited collect data from the depths
of space, the Canberra Deep Space
Communication Complex (CDSCC)
generally tracks objects
much closer to home
— namely the many
robotic spacecraft
currently exploring
the solar system. The
complex, located near
Tidbinbilla, about
10 miles (16 km)
southwest of Canberra,
was established in
the mid-1960s.
Today it’s home to
five large antennas —
the enormous 70-meter
dish, known as DSS-43
(or Deep Space Station
43), and four still-
impressive 34-meter
dishes. DSS-43 was
originally a 64-meter
instrument — the same size as Parkes
— but was extended by 6 meters in 1987,
making it the hemisphere’s biggest. It
stands as high as a 22-story building.
Although run by Australian scientists
and engineers, the complex is U.S.-fundedand serves as a vital part of NASA’s Deep
Space Network. The network also
includes similar facilities in Goldstone,
California, and near Madrid, Spain. By
spanning the globe, the network can
track spacecraft continuously, even as
Earth rotates.
At the time of our visit, the CDSCC
was tracking more than 40 missions,
including a handful of spacecraft on or
orbiting Mars. Farther out in the solar
system, it’s keeping an eye on OSIRIS-
REx, the NASA sample-return mission
that flew past asteroid Bennu in late
2018, and New Horizons, which f lew past
Pluto in 2015 and the Kuiper Belt object
known as Ultima Thule in early 2019.
“We think of ourselves like air traffic
control for the universe,” said Glen
Nagle, an outreach officer at the CDSCC.Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory, just
a 20-minute drive from downtown
Canberra, is the most urban of the
astronomy sites we visited, but also one
of the most interesting. Founded in 1928,
the facility is steeped in history but was
tragically devastated by a wildfire in- The blaze destroyed five telescopes
and several historic buildings. After a
herculean restoration effort, the observa-
tory reopened in 2015. Still, the ruins of
once-great telescopes and the buildings
that housed them are a poignant sight.
ABOVE: There’s no mistaking where you are
when you enter the Canberra Deep Space
Communication Complex, part of NASA’s Deep
Space Network, near Tidbinbilla in the Australian
Capital Territory.
RIGHT: With a diameter of 70 m, the DSS-43
at the Canberra Deep Space Communication
Complex is the largest steerable radio telescope
in the Southern Hemisphere and forms part of
NASA’s Deep Space Network.The town of Parkes is known
for more than astronomy: It
also hosts an Elvis Festival
every January.