Get Away with Dre: Space Travel. Out-of-this-world places on Earth
Space travel… wouldn’t that be remarkable? We’re still far away from the goal of intergalactic travel so for now, check out a few of these out-of-this-world places you can visit here on Earth. Australia has 3 world-class space exploration and experiences that can take you to what it
Deep Space Communications Complex, Canberra
See what space travel is like in Tidbinbilla. The Deep Space Communications Complex is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network and you can learn about Australia’s contribution to space exploration.
The visitors centre is closed to walk-ins, but they are open for booked tours. They’re currently working on opening the visitors centre to the public soon.
The complex is in the Tidbinbilla valley, just south-west of Canberra and was chosen because of the surrounding ridges which would shield it from unwanted radio interference. You can get a pretty good view over the entire place and see the largest antenna complex in the southern hemisphere.
A few highlights to check out is a section of the complex where a crewed spaceflight wing was added to assist with the Apollo missions, and a 3.8 billion-year-old moon rock. You can view the latest images from across the Solar System and beyond, take a trip around the Solar System or across the galaxy, and see what astronauts eat in the space shuttle and in the space station.
CSIRO Parkes Observatory, Parkes NSW
Just west of Orange, this place is known as ‘The Dish’, and it’s like visiting a part of history because this place played a big role in man landing on the moon. You can view The Dish and watch it move, this means astronomers are controlling it as they explore the universe.
There’s free entry into the visitors centre, and a pay-to-view 3D theatre with a selection of short films produced by Swinburne University’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing.
You’ll need to switch your phone to airplane/flight mode and turn off Wifi and Bluetooth before visiting. Our devices create ‘noise’ which can take over weak signals from space the telescopes try to detect
Cosmos Centre, Charleville, QLD
This is located in outback QLD which makes it an epic observatory, away from the light pollution of cities.
You can view the Milky Way through superpowered telescopes, view the sky at night and during the day, defying physics by looking straight into the sun with these telescopes., as well as learning about star clusters, planets, dwarf planets and the moon.
