Robert J. Parks Collection, 1945-1966.

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Robert J. Parks Collection, 1945-1966.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733100235

The items in the collection were collected by Robert J. Parks. Parks' career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) lasted from 1947 to 1987. During the span dates of the collection, Parks served as an Engineer in the Guidance and Control Section (1947-50), Chief of the Guidance Section and its various incarnations (1950-60), Project Director of the Sergeant Missile Program (1957-60), and Flight Projects Director (1961-84). Represented in the collection are correspondence, reports, journal reprints, handwritten notes, brochures, and photographs. The collection is divided into six series: Contract JPL-15, JPL Reports, Journal Reprints, Flight Projects, Deep Space Network, and Miscellaneous. The bulk of the collection is between 1948-1961. Each series is filed chronologically unless otherwise noted. At a conference held at Wright Field, Ohio in May 1948, the U.S. Air Force Air Materiel Command assigned JPL a project to evaluate and assess the guidance and control of guided missile projects underway at eight different contractors. This project, Contract W33-038-AC-18709, was known as JPL-15. The eight contractors (and their missiles) that were evaluated were: Bell Aircraft Company (MX-776 Shrike/Rascal), Boeing Aircraft Company (MX-606 Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft [GAPA]), Ryan Aeronautical Company (MX-799 Firebird), Hughes Aircraft Company (MX-904 Tiamat), University of Michigan (MX-794 Wizard), North American Aviation Company (MX-770 NATIV), Glenn L. Martin Company (MX-771A Matador) and Northrop Aircraft Company (MX-775B Snark). The first evaluation, Bell Aircraft Company, began in June 1948. Robert Parks was one of the engineers who traveled to the contractor sites to consult with engineers on the various projects. In December 1948 he traveled to Seattle to visit Boeing. In April 1949 he traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan to evaluate the University of Michigan. Immediately after this he went to Baltimore to the Glenn L. Martin Company. The majority of the series is comprised of handwritten notes. Also included in the series are memoranda, correspondence and travel forms. A majority of the memoranda in the series were originally marked as "Secret," but have all been declassified. Also prominent in the series are three documents that are key in the formation of the Deep Space Network. The "Radio Astronomy Handbook," dated February 1958 and written by William D. Merrick, is a working handbook in the development of the Deep Space Network. Included in the handbook is a complete list of all existing observatories and their locations, along with short profiles of companies that could be contracted in assisting JPL personnel to construct radio astronomy antennas. "A Study of On-Site Computing and Data Processing for a World Tracking Network," JPL Publication 155, was dated February 9, 1959 and written by Clarence R. Gates and Marshall S. Johnson. It is a study formulating the requirements for operations to be performed on tracking or antenna-acquisition data at the individual sites of what was then called a World Tracking Network. The "South African Trip Report" is a travel report by Jack N. James and Phil A. Tardini on their trip to the Union of South Africa as a potential site for a NASA Deep Space Station. James, Tardini, and two other NASA personnel were in South Africa from September 26 to October 5, 1959. The group met with officials from the National Institute for Telecommunications Research (NITR), a unit of the South African government's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The objectives were to narrow potential sites based on geographical, topological and logistical considerations; a discussion of a possible agreement with South African officials; and to gather general information on South Africa. Each of the three objectives is given adequate discussion in the report. Also in the report are summaries of briefings and topographical maps of possible site locations. DSS 51, a 26-meter L and S-band antenna, located at Hartbeesthoek, outside of Johannesburg, became operational in June 1961. The station ceased operations for the DSN in June 1974, due officially to changing requirements for planetary flight programs. The antenna was transferred to NITR, which configured it for radio astronomy research that continues to the present day.

1.2 cubic ft. (74 folders)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8106430

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

Related Entities

There are 26 Entities related to this resource.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.)

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Seifert, Howard S.

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Fletcher, James Chipman, 1919-1991

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James Chipman Fletcher, born 5 June 1919, in Millburn, New Jersey, attended high school in New York City and received a B.A. in physics from Columbia University in 1940. He served as a research physicist with the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance, and in 1941 became a special research associate at the Cruf Laboratory of Harvard University. He went to Princeton University in 1942 as a teaching fellow and later was an instructor and research physicist. Under an Eastman Kodak fe...

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Martin, Benn D.

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Rechtin, Eberhardt

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Rechtin was Director of the Deep Space Instrumentation Facility. From the description of Access by Australian scientists to Woomera station during Venus transit : letter to Edwin P. Hartman, NASA Melbourne Office, 1962 Oct 16. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733100766 Rechtin was Assistant Laboratory Director for Tracking and Data Acquisition. From the description of Titles for DSIF Sites Near Canberra : letter to R.A. Leslie...

Dunn, Louis G., 1908-1979.

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James, Jack N. (Jack Norval), 1920-2001

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James was Mariner R Project Manager. From the description of Sonett's letter of 1961 Oct 16 with four action items regarding Mariner R : letter to Charles Sonett, 1961 Oct 20. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733097630 James was Deputy Planetary Program Director. From the description of Criticism of the New PMP (Program Management Plan) Format : letter to F.D. Kochendorfer, NASA, 1961 Feb 23. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library...

Bell Aircraft Company.

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Pickering, W. H. (William Hayward), 1910-2004

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William Hayward Pickering was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 24, 1910. After one year at the University of New Zealand, he entered California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1929. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1932, his Master of Science degree in Physics in 1933, and his Doctorate in Physics in 1936, all from Caltech. After graduation, he joined the Caltech faculty, becoming a full professor of electrical engineering in 1...

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Boeing Aircraft Company

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Lehan, Frank W.

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Glenn L. Martin Company

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Ryan Aeronautical Company

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Hibbs, Albert R., 1924-2003

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Hibbs was Chief of the Division of Space Sciences. From the description of Division of Space Sciences - Division 32 Program Structure, 1960 Sep. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096844 From the description of Proposed budget for a lunar seismograph system, FY 1962, NASA-Lamont Geological Observatory : letter to Charles Sonett, NASA Chief of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, 1961 May 10. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). Wor...

Parks, Robert J., 1922-

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Robert J. Parks was born April 1, 1922, in Los Angeles, CA. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1944. Parks then served two and a half years in the Army, and six months at Hughes Aircraft before joining the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in April 1947. Parks retired from JPL in June 1987. Parks served as an Engineer in the Guidance and Control Section for three years before serving as Se...

Wooldridge, Dean W.

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Northrop Aircraft Company.

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Hughes Aircraft Company

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Gates, Clarence R., 1926-2008.

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Clarence Rollins "Johnny" Gates was born in Belvidere, IL on August 21, 1926. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1947 and his doctorate in electrical engineering and mathematics from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1951. Gates joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in September 1950. His early work included electronic systems reliability, communications research, and guidance systems. ...

Merrick, William D., 1918-1997.

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Tardani, Phil A.

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