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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Tracking Martian spacecraft from Canberra, Australia

Tracking Martian spacecraft from Canberra, Australia
Tracking Martian spacecraft from Canberra, Australia Early in the morning (local time) on November 27, 2011, Glen Nagle caught three of the antennas of the Deep Space Network's Canberra complex tracking spacecraft bound for, or at, Mars. Both the 34-meter DSS-34 dish at far left and the 34-meter DSS-45 dish at far right were in their fourth hour of tracking the just-launched Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft. (The panoramic view covers more than 90 degrees, making the two antennas appear to point in different directions although they are actually aimed at the same spot in space.) In the center, the 70-meter DSS-43 was pointed at Mars Science Laboratory's future home, Mars. DSS-43 was tracking NASA's two Mars orbiters, Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Glen Nagle