Tidbinbilla Today

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

Tidbinbilla (CDSCC) is one of the three stations of NASA’s Deep Space Network (the others being Goldstone – GDSCC – and Madrid – MDSCC).

As of late 2014, Tidbinbilla had four operational large antennae –

DSS-43, a 70 metre cassegrain antenna. DSS-43 is the largest steerable antenna in the Southern Hemisphere. Opened as a 64 metre antenna in 1973.
DSS-45, a 34-metre High Efficiency type antenna built in the mid-1980s.
DSS-34, built in the late 1990s, and the newly-commissioned DSS-35, both new-generation 34 metre Beam Wave Guide antennae.

DSS-36, another 34 metre Beam Wave Guide antenna, is under construction.

DSS-46, the old Honeysuckle Creek 26 metre antenna, was retired-in-place in 2010, although other uses are still possible.
The plan is to maintain is as a national monument, in the light of the antenna’s role in receiving the television of the first step on the Moon in 1969.

CDSCC as seen from a commercial airliner flying between Sydney and Melbourne. Looking NNW. Click on the image for a 2 page PDF file (2.4MB) – the first page has an annotated photo and the second page is without the annotations. Photo by Steve Howard, November 2014. See also the wider view on this page.

A panorama of CDSCC taken in February 2012. Closest to the camera is the 34 metre beam-waveguide antenna, DSS-34, with the 34m DSS-45 at far right in the distance. In the centre distance is the 70 metre DSS-43. DSS-46 (the old HSK antenna, now retired-in-place) is visible in the distance between DSS-34 and DSS-43. The hill to the right of DSS-43 is Larry’s Hill, the hill from which the August 2006 panorama (and many others) was taken. Photo: Colin Mackellar.

Another panorama from a short distance to the east. Photo: Colin Mackellar. Assembled by Graham Watts.

Tidbinbilla: The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex shrouded in mist on 25 May 2010. Photo: Louise M. Large, Larger.

Click for a key to the above photo (450kb PDF file).

This panorama of Tidbinbilla was taken in late August 2006 –

A panorama of CDSCC taken in August 2006. Click the image for a version with the antennas identified. Large (2MB), Largest (4.8MB) Photo: Colin Mackellar.

The photos are taken from approximately the same location, near the water tanks. The images are aligned on the original DSN Operations Building – therefore the background hills are slightly out of register. DSS-42 (the antenna in the 1965 image) was decommissioned and dismantled in December 2000. Click here to see a rollover comparison. 1965 photo via Les Whaley (scan: Mike Dinn). 2006 photo: Colin Mackellar

This is how Tidbinbilla looked in 1997 – click on the image for a 2 page PDF file (1.2MB) – one page has an annotated photo and the second page without the annotations.

DSS-46 – the old Honeysuckle antenna, near the Visitors Centre car park. Photo: Bill Wood, 2004.

Today, the old Honeysuckle antenna – DSS-46 – is situated near the Tidbinbilla Visitors Centre car park, and was used mainly in tracking near-Earth spacecraft until its retirement in January 2010. (The antenna was farewelled during the Apollo 11 40th anniversary celebrations in July 2009.)

The large DSS-43 antenna, which began life as a 64 metre antenna supporting Apollo 17, is now a 70 metre antenna and forms a key component of the Deep Space Network.

The 70m DSS-43. In the foreground is a model of Voyager II and plaque, to commemorate CDSCC’s vital role in the encounter with Uranus in 1986. This was the entrance to the Visitors’ Centre c. 1995. Photo: Colin Mackellar.

The plaque.

The well-equipped and very informative Canberra Space Centre at Tidbinbilla is open every day between 9:00am and 5:00pm.