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Deep Space Communication Complex


Clustered in the rolling valleys and farmland surrounded by grazing sheep and cattle were the giant white antenna dishes of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. Part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, the Complex is a functional deep space observatory with a visitor centre.

The Visitor Centre offers visitors the chance to learn about the role that Australia plays in the exploration of space. You can take in magnificent views of the largest antenna complex in the southern hemisphere, see a piece of the Moon that’s over 3.8 billion years old, check out the latest images from across the Solar System and beyond, check out spacecraft models, plus flown space hardware and memorabilia. Discover the foods that astronauts eat on the space shuttle and space station, watch a movie on the history and future of space exploration, take a hands-on trip around the Solar System or across the galaxy, or just sit back and relax in the Moon Rock Cafe.



Entry to the Centre is free – Open daily 7 days a week, between 9am & 5pm. Open during all school and public holidays (closed December 25th only).

Location: about half an hour’s drive out of Canberra in the Tidbinbilla valley region. How to get there: leave Canberra via Parkes Way, proceed into Tuggeranong Parkway which becomes Drakesford Dve., then Tharwa Dr. Proceed through Tharwa along Tidbinbilla Rd, right into Paddys River Rd, right into Discovery Dr.

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The NASA Deep Space Network – or DSN – is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the Solar System and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. The DSN consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately 120 degrees apart around the world: near Canberra, Australia; Goldstone, in California’s Mojave Desert; and near Madrid, Spain. This strategic placement permits constant observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates, and helps to make the DSN the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world.

The CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) business unit brings together CSIRO’s radio astronomy capabilities (the Parkes Radio Telescope and the Australia Telescope National Facility) and other space science activities, notably, the operation of Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), as well as CSIRO Space Sciences and Technology. The unit encompasses radio astronomy, space science coordination, advanced aerospace business development, and national/international facilities management.

On the 13th of April 1973, then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, took a 45-minute drive from (Old) Parliament House in Canberra and out to the beautiful bushland setting of the Tidbinbilla valley and the giant white antenna dishes of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. Dominating the valley was the newly completed, massive 64-metre wide, dish-like antenna called Deep Space Station 43 (DSS43). It is the largest steerable antenna dish in the southern hemisphere.

Gough Whitlam was there to officially open the new dish that had taken three years to construct. As wide as the Parkes Radio Telescope but taller and heavier, DSS43 could not only receive radio signals but also transmit. Designed to send commands to spacecraft exploring distant planets and receive their data, process and relay it back to scientists all over the world. Surrounded by dignataries and station staff, and standing alongside the NASA Administrator, James Fletcher, Prime Minister Whitlam officially threw the switch that ushered in a new era in space exploration for Australia and the world – taking Canberra from the bush to the stars.

DSS43 was originally constructed as a 64-metre dish. It was expanded to its present 70-metre diameter in the late 1980s to accommodate the Voyager missions. At this size, DSS43 is the largest steerable antenna dish in the Southern Hemisphere. Over the years, as technology changed in transmitter and receiver systems, the antenna has been upgraded several times to provide even greater sensitivity and range of capabilities.







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