A dish antenna 35 meters in diameter is bright against the night sky in New Norcia, Australia.
This station is part of Estrack, a international network of ground stations that link satellites with the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. It also communicates with deep space missions like Rosetta. Estrack turns 40 this year, and, if you are so inclined, you can participate in “Estrack 40th Anniversary Sound Contest” and create a new theme song for Estrack.
Image credit: D. O’Donnell/ESA – CC BY-SA 3.0
Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.