NASA's New Horizons flyby of Pluto last Tuesday has a very local connection to its successful mission.
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Delegate resident Phil Pope was team leader of one of the operations teams working from the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) at Tidbinbilla.
The radio telescopes at Tidbinbilla, a facility just outside of Canberra operated by an all-Australian team of engineers, technicians and spacecraft communication experts, are part of NASA's Deep Space Network.
The 70metre diameter radio telescope antenna and 34metre beam-waveguide at Tidbinbilla provided a radio frequency link to and from the New Horizons spacecraft as Pluto rose over Australia on the evening of July 14.
The team at the CDSCC was more than ready for the encounter with Pluto as it had been following the entire voyage of New Horizons since its launch on January 19, 2006.
Playing a key role in the one of the most anticipated planetary encounters in space exploration history was an exciting moment in Mr Pope's career and life.
A self-confessed "space nut", the experience was one giant buzz for Mr Pope - the culmination of nine years' work at the Tidbinbilla station - and a major highlight in a 25-year career in deep space.
During the flyby Mr Pope and his team members, comprising two senior technicians and two link control operators, plus two other CDSCC staff were in the CDSSC control room.
"I was pretty excited to be a part of it, this one was really big," Mr Pope said while enjoying some leave at his Delegate property on Monday.
"Pluto is a tiny speck of light, which you can't see with the naked eye...this was real frontier stuff.
"The poor thing got demoted and now NASA sends something up to the planet to say g'day," he laughed.
"I'm very proud of the team - there are almost 90 people who work at Tidbinbilla in a range of fields.
"There may have only been five in the team, but we did it with a lot of support...it was a major team effort," Mr Pope said.
"There was actually a cast of thousands involved across the whole deep space network."
Mr Pope can now tick Pluto off his list of achievements and hopes to be still working in the industry when humans set foot on Mars.
"It's achievable, and not that far off...maybe 2025 or 2030, but the timeline keeps shifting.
"Humans have a need to explore and the reaction to the Pluto mission has been amazing.
"Watching the response on Facebook and Twitter, it's fantastic how much people have been excited by that."
Mr Pope said for the next few weeks the latest data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft of Pluto will continue to be downloaded.
"I believe the spacecraft has now transitioned from encounter mode to cruise phase as it travels the Kuiper Belt where it will head out to one of three designated candidates.
"It should get to the next one by 2019.
"Over this time we will periodically keep in touch with it to make sure its ok."
Mr Pope said there are times when he thinks his job is just like any other, where one day follows another in a routine pattern, "then something like this comes along".
Ever since he was a child he had a fascination with space and now he is living his dream every day.
