India, July 12 -- The Deep Space Network is NASA's interplanetary switchboard that enables constant communications with our robotic spacecraft. In March, one of the network's largest antennas - Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) in Canberra, Australia - began undergoing much-needed upgrades.

Forty-eight years old and 70 meters (230 feet) wide, the dish recently received a new X-band frequency cone. Inside the cone is a powerful state-of-the-art transmitter system and highly sensitive receivers, which will be used to send commands to spacecraft and receive telemetry and science data back from robotic missions exploring the solar system.

A giant crane maneuvered the 3-ton cone into the center of the massive dish after lifting it 20 stories fr...