Murriyang, CSIRO’s Parkes radio-telescope has started a four week shutdown to allow a refurbishment of the two elevation gearboxes. This is only the third time in the 64 year life of the telescope that the elevation gearboxes have been removed. On the first occasion, in 1982, the two set of gears were simply swapped between the two boxes as, owing to the design of the Zenith drive, nearly all the wear was on one face of the teeth, and the boxes are mirror images of each other. In 2002 a full replacement was undertaken, and similar works are underway this time. The image above shows the second gearbox being lowered to the ground, prior to being trucked off-site for further work. (Image credit: John Sarkissian)