The NASA/JPL 64-Meter-Diameter Antenna at Goldstone, California:Project Report

摘要

This report describes the significant management and technical aspects of the JPL Project to develop and implement a 64-meter-diamcter antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, which was the first of the Advanced Antenna Systems of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Deep Space Network.nThe original need foreseen for a large-diameter antenna lo accomplish communication and tracking support of NASA's soíar system exploration pro-pram is reviewed, and the translation of those needs into the tcrhrncaí speci¬fication of an appropriate ground station antenna, is described.nThe antenna Project is delineated by phases to show the key technical and managerial skills and the technical facility resources involved. There is a brief engineering description of the antenna and its closely related facilities.nSome difficult and interesting engineering problems, then at the state-of-the-art level, which were mot in the accomplishment of the Project, arc described. The key performance characteristics of the antenna, in relation to the original specifications and the methods of their determination, are stated.