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| Artist's conception of Mars Science Laboratory in operation on the red planet. (NASA/JPL CalTech photo) |
Amateurs at the AMSAT-DL facility in Bochum, Germany, received telemetry signals from the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) satellite about seven hours after its recent launch. According to the AMSAT News Service, the satellite was more than 67,000 miles from Earth at the time of reception. This is believed to be the first reception of MSL signals outside of NASA's Deep Space Network. AMSAT-DL's Bochum facility is part of its work on the planned P5A amateur satellite to Mars mission.
