Researchers at the Auckland University of Technology's space institute are hoping to soon put their giant telescope dish through more difficult tasks.
The 30-metre radio telescope started work in July after being converted from a telecommunications dish.
It sits alongside a much smaller and less sensitive 12-metre dish north of Auckland.
Professor Sergei Gulyaev Photo: RNZ
Sergei Gulyaev, from AUT's Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, said the dish was already letting researchers do things they could not before.
"This first five months of the 30-metre radiotelescope is just getting into good shape, testing systems, trying different tasks, I hope that pretty soon it will become as good working force as the 12-metre radiotelescope in Warkworth."
Professor Gulyaev said the dish had also proved to be much more sensitive then first thought.