2019-07-01_Australian_Sky_&_Telescope

30 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE July 2019

investigation proved the wildcard in

the pack and, within a few years, radio

astronomy had grown to be the Lab’s

main research activity. John Bolton

was one of a brilliant group of young

men and women at Radiophysics who

pioneered this new branch of astronomy.

In 1954 the Radiophysics Lab

announced plans to build a Giant

Radio Telescope. From the start it was

an international project. Half the

funding came from the Carnegie and

Rockefellerfoundations,demonstrating

USrecognitionofAustralia’sleading

positioninthisnewfield.Thetelescope

wasdesignedbyFreemanFox&

PartnersinLondon,a firmwellknown

inAustralia— thefirm’sfounderSir

RalphFreemanhaddesignedtheSydney

HarbourBridge,thenthemosticonic

structureinAustralia.Thesitechosen

forthetelescopewasa shallowvalley

northoftheParkestownshipinNSw,

wellshieldedfromartificialsourcesof

radiointerference.

NetworkingwithNASA

WhenNASAbeganitsseriesof

unmanned and manned spacecraft

missions in the early 1960s it needed to

establish a network of tracking stations

around the globe so that, at any given

time, a spacecraft would be in contact

with at least one station. NASA initially

installed a 26-metre dish at Woomera in

the South Australian desert and then two

more 26-m dishes at Honeysuckle Creek

and Tidbinbilla near Canberra. However,

when the Parkes dish was opened in

October 1961, with John Bolton as

theinauguraldirector,NASAtookan

immediateinterest.Witha diameter

of 64 metres,Parkeshadsixtimesthe

collectingareaofthe26-mdishesand

wouldbea muchsuperiorinstrumentfor

trackingspaceprobesleavingEarthorbit

toexploretheMoonandtheplanets

beyond.NASAofferedCSIROa hefty

hourlyfeetoreserveoccasionalblocksof

timeonthenewdish.

However,therelationshipwith

NASAdidnotgetofftoa goodstart.

ParkeswasusedtotracktheMariner

IVmissiontoMarsandreceivedthe

telemetrysignalsusedtoproduce

thefirstclose-upphotographsofthe

Martian surface. The results surprised

scientists for they revealed a heavily

cratered planet with a cold, thin

atmosphere dominated by carbon

dioxide, certainly not the hospitable

planet suggested by some telescopic

observations from Earth. But when

NASA scientists published the findings

from the mission, including the

remarkably detailed photographs,

no acknowledgment was made of

the role played by Parkes. The Parkes

MOONWALK

S DISH CRICKET Sam Neill (left) cast as the

unassuming director of the Parkes dish with

Kevin Harrington and Tom Long. The Dish was

screened in Australian cinemas in October

2000, immediately after the Sydney Olympics,

and became the highest grossing Australian

film of the year.

S DISHMASTER John Bolton was the

director of the Parkes Observatory from 1961

to 1971. He then became CSIRO’s unofficial

astronomer-at-large, and served two terms

as a vice-president of the International

Astronomical Union.

S MAKING HISTORY The Apollo 11 crew

(from left): Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins

and Buzz Aldrin. Collins piloted the command

module Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin

descended to the lunar surface.