Earthquake Valley Antenna Test, 1956 [photograph].

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Earthquake Valley Antenna Test, 1956 [photograph].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733106173

RTV Field Operations, Earthquake Valley, 5/23/56. [Description from photo index.]. The March 2007 Historical Photo of the Month showed a prototype antenna tested near JPL in March 1956. Two months later in Earthquake Valley, San Diego County, similar helical antennas were tested in conjunction with a Microlock receiver. Two objectives of the tests were to gain experience with the Microlock ground station equipment and determine the accuracy of the interferometer antenna system. Three of the helical antennas were spaced just over 100 feet apart. Two phototheodolites behind the antennas were used to measure the system's angular accuracy. The van at the far left contained the receiver equipment and other instruments. A helicopter towing a transmitting beacon was again used to simulate the signal of a satellite in orbit. It was determined that the system could track a beacon of 1 milliwatt at a distance of about 6,000 miles. The low ambient noise level in Earthquake Valley helped to increase the receiver's performance, compared to the tests done near JPL. The next step in the development of satellite communications can be seen in the January 2004 Historical Photo. It shows the mobile tracking system used for the Explorer 1, and Pioneer 3 and 4 spacecraft.

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

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SNAC Resource ID: 8108296

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.). Photolab.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g26rt0 (corporateBody)

One of the first people hired at GALCIT Project #1 in November 1941 was photographer George Emmerson (1913-1994), an emigrant from Newcastle, Great Britain. Audrey Voice and Mary J. Taylor as photographer's assistants joined Emmerson in 1943. Emmerson took almost all the early photos that became a part of this collection, a collection described in brief as the work product of the JPL Photolab. As JPL grew, so did the assignments to the Photolab to photograph all Laborato...