Sixty years on from its construction the Parkes Radio Telescope is set to play a crucial role in the next mission to the moon.
The 64-metre telescope, commonly known as "The Dish", took just two years to build on what was farmland in the New South Wales' central west.
In the decades that followed its official opening on October 31, 1961, the telescope played a pivotal role in some of the world's most important astronomical moments, including being a crucial receiving station for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969.
The Dish was then etched into Australian popular culture with the movie of the same name in 2000.
More recently, the 64-metre radio telescope has been on a special mission searching for alien life.
The Dish was first considered for Australia in the late 1940s by the CSIRO's chief of radiophysics, EG (Taffy) Bowen.
He believed the construction of a 77-metre telescope in the UK meant Australia needed to keep up and build its own.
CSIRO Parkes Observatory operational scientist John Sarkissian said the telescope was a great example of Australian achievement.
"The great science we've been able to do with the telescope is why it is much loved right around the country," he said.
"The original intention was to operate the telescope for just 20 years, but years of upgrades to the interior and exterior means it's still relatively young.
In 2020, the radio telescope was listed on the National Heritage List and was given the local Wiradjuri name of Murriyang, which translates to skyworld.
Commercial lunar travel
The Parkes Radio Telescope was instrumental for six decades in Moon landings and astronomy.
In more recent times, it was contracted as a communication link for commercial travel to the Moon and NASA's commercial lunar lander program.
Scientists hope the next humans landing on the moon could come within the next five years.
Mr Sarkissian said the 60th anniversary was a chance to not only reflect on the past, but also look to the future.
"We're looking forward to the future and pushing the boundary of what is possible, as we always have."
Small steps, giant leaps
Plans for the Dish include a role in NASA's mission to take the first woman and person of colour to the Moon.
CSIRO head of radio telescope operations John Reynolds said the technology will be vital in helping some of the precursor missions, which are scheduled to start next year.
"It's fantastic to be involved in that again but that's only really a sideline to our main enterprise, which is science research," Mr Reynolds said.
Such big operations have been made possible through a complete renewable of electronics every five to 10 years.
"It's about a million times more sensitive than when we bought it," he said.
He was confident the radio telescope, which was projected to operate for 20 years, will be working for several more decades.
