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Emily Lakdawalla • Sep 12, 2011

Pretty picture: Talking to GRAIL

A lovely picture from the Canberra DSN this morning, showing two of the workhorse 34-meter antennas communicating with the nearby GRAIL spacecraft. In the distance, the huge DSS-43 talks to the solar observatory STEREO-B.

Antennas of the Canberra DSN at work
Antennas of the Canberra DSN at work Radio antennas in Australia track the twin GRAIL spacecraft on the way to the Moon. In the center is the 34-meter DSS-34 tracking GRAIL-A and at right is DSS-45 on GRAIL-B. In the left background, 70-meter DSS-43 is tracking STEREO-B.Image: Canberra DSN

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