Australia's role in Curiosity's Mars Landing

I've hesitated to write a blog post on Australia's role in NASA's Curiosity Mars mission - not because it isn't a great topic or story, but because there has been such substantial coverage of the topic in the mainstream Australian media.

In light of the successful touchdown on Mars, I just couldn't resist putting a few notes down about it for those who like to follow the blog.

First and foremost, the NASA Deep Space Communications Complex at Tidbinbilla (just outside of Canberra) was the prime communications receiving station on earth to communicate with the Curiosity Spacecraft for the decent and landing today. As a back up, both the Parkes telescope and New Norica facility in Western Australia were also used as backup communications links. A large crowd gathered at  Tidbinbilla today to watch the even, with some even arriving at 9am to get the best seats in the house!

Our second major involvement is that the Curiosity rover has touched down within the Gale Crater is in fact named after Walter Frederick Gale, a Sydney banker and astronomer who undertook many observations of Mars, and subsequently had the Gale crater named in his honour. An interesting article about Walter Gale can be found here on the Cosmos website by Jonathan Nally.

Thirdly is Marion Anderson's involvement - a geologist from Monash university - who was involved in the landing site selection for the Curiosity mission. Alan Kerlin has an interesting interview with Marion over here.

Finally, Dr Penny King - a geologist from the Australian National University will be helping to control the scientific instruments of the Curiosity mission from NASA's JPL. No doubt, Dr King will be very excited that  Curiosity has successfully landed on Mars - as the science is just about to begin!

Congratulations to all those involved in the mission - particularly those at NASA who have worked so long and hard for this moment. I look forward to hearing of the many discoveries that will be made through such an important mission.

NASA Administrator Bolden in Australia

This week has seen NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in Australia, the first NASA administrator since 1973 to do so.

Mr Bolden at the CDSCC (Photo credit: Penny Bradfield)

Mr Bolden visited the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla, highlighting that when the Curiosity Rover touches down on the surface of Mars on August 6th, that the CDSCC will be receiving the signal as an integral part of the mission and the only deep space facility located in the southern hemisphere. Mr Bolden also examined the current upgrades to the CDSCC facility which will see four new dishes built at the facility.

In his visit, Mr Bolden also gave an address at the University of Sydney, and visited Questacon in Canberra where he answered questions from the audience and students across Australia.

Two US – Australia Space Agreements Extended

The recent visit of the President of the United States of America Barack Obama to Australia saw two space agreements renewed, continuing the Australian / US cooperation in Space. NASA and the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research (DIISR) have announced their intention to extend two bilateral space agreements that would otherwise expire in 2012.

The first, the Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications Facilities Agreement (1980), is for CSIRO to operate the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) – one of NASA’s three main global deep space communications facilities. The updated agreement will come into force on the 26th of February 2012, and is extended until Feb 26, 2014. The exchange of notes can be found here and here.

The second agreement is the Scientific Ballooning Agreement (2006) to allow NASA and Australian partners (CSIRO, UNSW etc) to develop civil payloads and technology for NASA high altitude balloon missions, building upon agreements on scientific ballooning agreements since 1984. The agreement also allows Australian scientists to be involved in the NASA ballooning campaigns, with each balloon campaign that NASA undertakes is estimated to contribute $5 Million to the Australian economy. The treaty exchange of notes can be found here, with the National Interest Analysis is here with the agreement to be renewed on the 12 June 2012 after expiry of the current agreement.

I note that both analysis highlight that NASA has spent ‘in excess of $740 million’ on space-related activities in Australia since 1960 – that’s a sizable sum of money!

Aussies and Kiwis link up to boost SKA chances

Six radio telescopes across both Australia and New Zealand have linked up to perform Radio Astronomy for the first time, creating a telescope baseline of 5500km. In doing so, they have created images that are 10 times more detailed than those of the Hubble Telescope.

The team from Australian and New Zealand imaged the Centaurus A galaxy, which is over 14 million light years away. The team included Auckland University of Technology’s Warkworth telescope, three CSIRO telescopes in New South Wales, the new Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) facility in WA, and the University of Tasmania’s dish near Hobart.

The new link up was enabled by the new 1Gbps Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) connection allowing data transfer across the Tasman.

I must say, I find this “competitive science” attitude between Australia and South Africa wonderful, with both countries trying to out-science each other in the race for the SKA. In the end, it seems the science is the true winner, with the reverse situation than normal occurring. Politicians coming to scientists, and asking what they can do for them!

The CSIRO media release is here.


Well done Team ANZ SKA.

Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral valley facilities honoured by AIAA

 The CDSCC with some locals (CSIRO)

The AIAA has honoured the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) at Tidbinbilla, and former NASA tracking stations at Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral Valley as sites of Historic Aerospace Significance.

AIAA President Dave Thompson has unveiled a historic marker as part of the public ceremony on May 25th, 2010 at Tidbinbilla.

This now joins Woomera to be the second AIAA recognised site of Historic Aerospace Significance in Australia.

For the AIAA press release, go here.
For CSIRO coverage, go here.