Next Monday, around 12:00 local, this is how ESA’s superb (may we also say beautiful?) 35m deep-space tracking station at New Norcia, Australia, will appear as it swings into position to track Mars Express and listen for NASA’s Mars Science Lab.

Clip recorded in April 2012 showing ESA’s 35m deep-space tracking station at New Norcia, Australia, swinging into action to conduct a communication pass. DSA-1 is designed for deep-space satellite missions and provides daily support to Mars Express, Rosetta and Venus Express for routine operations. The mechanical movable structure weighs 580 tonnes. Engineers can point it with a speed of 0.4 degrees per second in both axes (horizontal and vertical). Its Servo Control System provides the highest possible pointing accuracy under the site’s environmental, wind and temperature conditions. More details via https://bit.ly/96u55A