The name: In 2020, the telescope was given the Wiradjuri name Murriyang, which represents the “Skyworld” where the creator spirit Biyaami resides.<\/p>\n
The build: Originally commissioned in 1961 using a steel mesh surface; it was upgraded in 1970 to more sensitive perforated aluminium panels.<\/p>\n
The power: Through continuous internal and external upgrades, the telescope is now 10,000 times more sensitive than it was during the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.<\/p>\n
Deep freeze technology: To achieve such extreme sensitivity, the telescope\u2019s radio receivers are cryogenically cooled to minus 270 degrees Celcius\u00a0(3 Kelvin) to eliminate electronic interference.<\/p>\n
Vital stats: The dish spans 64 metres in diameter and weighs 1000 tonnes, yet it is so finely balanced it can be operated remotely via the internet.<\/p>\n
A proven track record: Beyond Apollo, Parkes has tracked missions to Venus (1962), Mars, Jupiter, and even intercepted signals from distant comets.<\/p>\n
The Artemis mission: While NASA\u2019s Deep Space Network (including Tidbinbilla in Canberra) handles primary tracking, Parkes acts as the heavy lifter\u00a0for high-speed data downloads, including biomedical and navigation vitals for the Artemis II crew.<\/p>\n
The moon\u2019s switchboard: Australia is an original signatory to the Artemis Accords, with Parkes currently demonstrating the network capability required for future permanent moon bases and lunar GPS systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The name: In 2020, the telescope was given the Wiradjuri name Murriyang, which represents the “Skyworld” where the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-597386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}