Space Antenna That Eyed Sputnik Renovated After 50 YearsSpace Antenna That Eyed Sputnik Renovated After 50 Years

A 1950s-era antenna used for space surveillance has been renovated.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced this week that the Lincoln Laboratory's Millstone Hill Radar (MHR) antenna has been overhauled. It was installed in 1957 as part of the first radar system, which helped observe the Soviet Sputnik craft and other objects circling the Earth. It is one of three surveillance radars to track space junk, satellites, and spacecraft to help decrease the risk of collisions and to maintain the Deep Space Catalog.

Paula Ward of Lincoln's Control Systems Engineering group said that the motors and generators in use since the 1950s were worn and failed frequently, causing long-term shut downs. Operators had to turn mechanical knobs to rotate the antenna and read meters from a panel. The antenna control system had been upgraded just twice in 50 years.

Now, operators can maintain the new system from a laptop and remotely access displays that show its position. The upgrade also included new motors and gearboxes, as well as an 84-foot reflector supported by an 85-foot tower.

"We're trying to reduce the probability of collisions," Jeff Dominick, site manager of the Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex, said in an announcement. "This upgrade has significantly reduced downtime and maintenance tasks associated with the MHR antenna control system."

The system works with two other surveillance radars -- the ARPA Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar in the Marshall Islands and the Globus II in Norway -- to monitor the geosynchronous Earth orbit, which contains more than 3,000 objects.

Dominick said that the Air Force Space Command relies on the antenna to monitor the region above the United States.