One small step... one giant leap

This weekend, some guys from MSO (Mount Stromlo Observatory) and some visitors (including myself among them) decided to have some fun and breath some fresh air at Tidbinbilla natural reserve, a wonderful place that I really recommend for having a nice day with the family embedded in the Australian nature (kangaroos, platypus, koalas, etc...). But I am going to let this experience for another entry and I am going to focus on our experience at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex... I cannot imagine a better place to finish an excursion for a bunch of astro-geeks!

A picture of myself at the CDSCC entrance. Thanks Tiantian for the great pictures!!

This complex is one of the three stations that are spread over the Earth forming the NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The other two stations are located in Madrid (Spain) and Goldstone (California, USA). In short, these three stations along with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena are the main link between deep space crafts and people on Earth.

So basically, it is a bunch of antennas (the main ones, three with a diameter of 34 meters and a 70-meter dish) that NASA uses to communicate (send and receive information) with the ongoing missions on Space (Mars Odyssey, Kepler Space Telescope, CASSINI, SOHO, Spitzer, Voyager 1 and 2, etc). Can you imagine it? And everything deep in the breathtaking landscapes of Tidbinbilla.

And, as everything built by Americans, it has a great outreach program around it. A really nice (and small, so you cannot get bored of it) visitor centre with cafeteria, exhibitions, video projections, documentaries, etc... and specially, some fascinating pieces that well deserve being in a museum. Among them, one of the four cameras used by the astronauts in the well-known Apollo missions but especially... a small piece of shiny rock brought from the Moon!!! I was 10 cm. away from a piece of rock that was formed 3.8 billion years ago by crystallisation of lava which has been orbiting the Earth 384,400 km from us!! AMAZING!!! According to studies on this rock it has been part of the moon surface for 200-400 million years, since a meteorite impact released from deep inside the moon to the surface!!!

Sample of Moon rock displayed at CDSCC.

And I think with this piece from the outer Space, it's time to say goodbye or better off... see you soon!!!