Carnarvon's enormous satellite dish is a step closer to being back in action amid a global space and technology boom.
A 29-metre-wide satellite dish that once aided NASA missions has received its first signal since being mothballed in 1987.The jagged peaks and valleys of a line chart might not look like much, but they represent a comeback years in the making.
"This gives us a proof-of-concept for the project, and allows us to move forward to the next step, which is to finish the refurbishment."The dish needed to be aimed precisely at a satellite of interest in order to receive the signal.However, it had only been rotated a handful of times since the late 1980s and rarely beyond the range of motion needed to be stowed for the cyclone season.
"Some have got their satellite dishes ... it's the same principle as that to find a satellite except it's far more accurate with what we've got," he said. The United States-built satellite provides a wide range of services to Australia, such as television broadcasting, online banking transactions, emergency beacons, and military communications.With its proof-of-concept secured, ThothX plans to invest upwards of $10 million into the OTC dish, which it says will take a key place in its global satellite tracking network.
"If you're waiting for your adversary to move a spacecraft, you kind of want to know immediately what's going on, and you want to be able to protect your own assets from things crashing into it," he said.The state government contributed $50,000 towards the OTC dish's refurbishment in September as part of a regional development grant.
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