Canberra: the CDSCC

T and I snuck out of work early on Friday and made the three hour drive to the nation's capital, Canberra.

From what we could see before the sun set, it was a lovely drive down through farm country.

And we arrived in time to find a good dinner of local wine and cheese at A. Baker, right near our hotel.

We didn't keep a late night though, because the next morning was the activity that T had been looking forward to since we'd started talking about the trip: a drive out to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex!

The CDSCC is about 30-40 minutes outside Canberra and it's one of three NASA deep space communication stations in the world. It's in a no-fly, no-radio, no-device area that's surrounded by hills to help shield it from any interference. It is tucked away outside the city, pretty much surrounded by nothing. We crossed farmland, a mountain range, and a one lane bridge; eventually we saw the sight we were waiting for!

Luckily I brought my adult camera, because cell phones had to stay off!

T stood in wonder for a long while before we eventually headed into the visitors center.

The visitors center is fairly small; the main purpose of the facility is for the 90+ scientists and physicists that work on-site to coordinate and research the data being transmitted. But there were the usual space museum-type displays.

One really unique thing was the viewing area which showed which spacecraft each satellite dish at the facility was currently communicating with.

The big dish in the background of that picture was collecting and transmitting data from a satellite studying the sun during the time we were there. It was moving constantly, but of course too slowly for us to tell. We also learned that it is the largest antenna dish in the Southern Hemisphere.

The other really interesting antenna was Deep Space Station 46, which was used in the Apollo Mission and recorded the TV images of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. It was originally in a different complex in Australia but has now been retired and moved to the CDSCC for visitors to see.

Deep Space Station 46

Behind the main buildings at the facility were many other antenna dishes, as well as construction sites for new amtennas that will start operation in the next few years. Exciting stuff!

It was a super fun morning and incredibly interesting! I'm pretty sure T would have stayed there the whole weekend if he'd could!

Posted with Blogsy