Yesterday the YWCA Canberra Computer Clubhouse went out to visit the  Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC), which is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network.

We had a fantastic tour of the facilities, starting with a guided look at the 70m telescope, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere as well as the radio telescope that received the video footage from the 1969 moon landing. We then learnt a bit about our solar system, including cool facts about the mars rovers, water on mars, the probes exploring our solar system, the history of moon landings and more! We then went in to the cinema area where we watched a video on our solar system, had a look at the scale of the universe, how to identify galaxies, what happens when galaxies merge and how different telescopes can use different bandwidths to gather information.

Everyone had a fantastic time and wished that we’d had more time to spend out there. One member, Angus (12 years old), said that it was “informative and amazing”. Another member, Tom (10 years old), said “my favourite part was watching the two galaxies merge”.

We’d love to extend a massive thank you to Korinne, our guide for the day, and the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex for showing us around.

Check out some of the photographs from the day!