The giant, 70-meter-wide antenna at NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, California, tracks a spacecraft on November 17, 2009. This antenna, officially known as Deep Space Station 14, is also nicknamed the "Mars antenna." Its name comes from its first task: to track the Mariner 4 spacecraft after its historic flyby of Mars in 1966.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Update: This post is several months old, but has become very popular (in early October 2010). For more information on the "Mars Antenna," see this L.A. Times article on the recent maintenance work. For additional photos of the antenna, see PIA13270: Mars Antenna Ready for Surgery, PIA13320: New Joints for a Workhorse Antenna, and PIA13321: Lifting the Runners.
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