Monmouth Message
March 31, 1960

Page ?

EAR TO PIONEER - Scientists at the U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, tracked the U.S. Pioneer-V space-probe to a distance of 1.6 million miles with this hugh antenna, which is 50 feet in diameter and can be aimed at any part of the sky.

'Diana' Tracks Space Probe

   Fort Monmouth- A team of Signal Corps scientists, using a hugh 50-foot dish-shaped antenna here, have tracked the U.S. Pioneer-V space probe rocket to a distance of 1.6 million miles as it soars to an orbit around the sun.
   The radio observation center is expected to re-establish contact with the space probe and track it beyond five million miles when the rockets high power transmitter is triggered on in several weeks.
   The Fort Monmouth station located at the Evans Area of the U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory near Belmar, is headed by Alan Gross of Lakewood, and George Goubeaud and John W. Mount, both of Long Branch.

'Diana' Signals from the big dish antenna, called 'Diana,' are fed to special instruments at the laboratory for doppler analysis, which yields valuable information about the rocket's position and direction of motion. These figures are automatically transmitted to a computer in Washington that keeps track of the probe.
Diana is a direct descendent of the historic Signals Corps antenna hat bounced man's first radar signal off the moon in 1946 from the same Fort Monmouth site. The new dish, originally designed for moon bounce research has been a valuable installation in the U.S. tracking network. It is a participant in all U.S. space probe launchings and was the only station in the country to track Russia's Lunik-II rocket.

Page updated January 3, 2004 page created September 02, 2000

Back to the InfoAge Homepage

Back to the Press Index

Monmouth Message March 31, 1960

Monmouth Message
March 31, 1960