CANBERRA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Australia's national science agency has been enlisted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to receive data from the Voyager 2 space probe.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) announced on Tuesday that its Parkes radio scope had joined NASA's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) to receive the unique data from Voyager 2 as it enters interstellar space.
It marks only the second time that a spacecraft has entered interstellar space, approximately 18 billion km from Earth, after Voyager 1 did so in August 2012, 35 years after it was launched.
The Parkes telescope will receive data into early 2019 after being enlisted to do so while the CDSCC was busy with communications from other deep space missions.
Because of Voyager 2's location and distance from Earth, the two Australian telescopes are the only facilities in the world capable of receiving its data.
"So we're proud to help NASA solve the scientific challenge of capturing this once in a lifetime opportunity as Voyager 2 ventures into interstellar space," Larry Marshall, chief executive of the CSIRO, said in a media release on Tuesday.
"Our team at Parkes has partnered with NASA on some of humanity's most momentous steps in space, including the landing of the Mars Rover Curiosity and, almost fifty years ago, the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
"Our long-standing relationship with NASA stretches back more than 50 years, creating breakthrough solutions from science, and fuelled by our shared ambition to push the boundaries of exploration to benefit life back on Earth."
During its 41-year journey, Voyager 2 has flown past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, providing valuable data on all four planets.
