Historical Non-astronomy Research
During the Apollo missions to the moon, the Parkes Observatory was used to relay communication and telemetry signals to NASA, providing coverage for when the moon was on the Australian side of the Earth.
The telescope also played a role in relaying data from the NASA Galileo mission to Jupiter that required radio-telescope support due to the use of its backup telemetry subsystem as the principal means to relay science data.
The observatory has remained involved in tracking numerous space missions up to the present day, including
- Mariner 2
- Mariner 4
- Voyager
- Giotto
- Galileo
- Cassini-Huygens
The observatory and telescope were featured in the 2000 film The Dish, a fictionalised account of the observatory's involvement with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The CSIRO has made several documentaries on this observatory, with some of these documentaries being posted to YouTube.
Read more about this topic: Parkes Observatory
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