Historic 'Mars antenna' in Mojave Desert undergoing repairs

[n2doc]

Deep Space Station 14 has spent 44 years tracking spacecraft and helping to image planets, comets and asteroids. It 'is one of the main contributors to our understanding of the solar system.'


Operations maintenance manager Robert Haroldsson looks at a steel runner on Deep Space Station 14 in the Mojave Desert. The 44-year-old antenna was originally expected to last only until the 1980s. (Myung J. Chun, Los Angeles Times / July 19, 2010)

By Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times
October 3, 2010


Frequented more by packs of stray burros than by cars, the road is a lonely one. Thirty-five miles north of Barstow, 30 minutes from the nearest highway, it ambles through parched desert before dropping into a low valley.

Here, where the pavement ends, the great antenna rises.

"Only this isn't just any ordinary antenna," said Peter Hames, an engineer who oversees the massive structure for La Cañada Flintridge's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. "It doesn't get much fanfare, but this is one of the main contributors to our understanding of the solar system."

Deep Space Station 14 — informally dubbed the Mars antenna because its initial task, in 1966, was to track a spacecraft after it flew past Mars — spreads from the ground like a looming, 10-story poppy. Its most eye-catching element is its parabolic dish, which stretches nearly the length of a football field and weighs, struts and radio equipment included, nearly 2,000 tons.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deep-space-antenna-20101003,0,6414536.story

Good thing they made it so well, we sure aren't building more since we have more important things to do- like blowing up rocks and wedding parties in the middle east.