Project Echo Milestone Dedication
Project Echo Milestone Dedication Event at the future "Robert Wilson Park"
Project Echo, Telstar, and Discovery of Cosmic Background Radiation, 1959-1965
In 1959-1960, NASA and AT&T developed a satellite Earth station in Holmdel, NJ, including a novel tracking horn-reflector antenna, maser preamplifier, and FM demodulator. The Earth station demonstrated the first high-quality long-distance voice circuit via the Echo passive communication satellite in 1960-1961, and via the active Telstar communications satellite in 1962-1963. Experiments conducted in 1964-1965 provided the first indication of the cosmic background radiation associated with the Big Bang.
WHAT IS THE “HOLMDEL HORN ANTENNA”?
The Holmdel Horn Antenna is a large microwave horn antenna that was used as a satellite communication antenna and radio telescope at the Bell Telephone Laboratories facility located on Crawford Hill in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, United States.[5] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 because of its association with the research work of two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
In 1965, while using this antenna, Penzias and Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) that permeates the universe. This was one of the most important discoveries in physical cosmology Since Edwin Hubble demonstrated in the 1920s that the universe was expanding. It provided the evidence that confirmed George Gamow's and Georges Lemaître's "Big Bang" theory of the creation of the universe. This helped change the science of cosmology, the study of the universe's history, from a field for unlimited theoretical speculation into a discipline of direct observation. In 1978 Penzias and Wilson received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery. The horn antenna at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, was constructed on Crawford Hill in 1959 to support Project Echo, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's passive communications satellites, which used large aluminized plastic balloons (satellite balloon) as reflectors to bounce radio signals from one point on the Earth to another.
Date and Time
Location
Hosts
Registration
- Date: 16 May 2025
- Time: 06:00 PM UTC to 08:00 PM UTC
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- 791 Holmdel Road
- Holmdel, New Jersey
- United States 07733
- Starts 01 March 2025 02:00 PM UTC
- Ends 10 May 2025 04:00 PM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Agenda
Crawford Hill Picnic: 11 AM - 2 PM [Email Picnic Coordinator at hohpicnic@gmail.com for information.]
Project Echo Milestone Dedication: 2-4 PM
Media
| BIG HORN ANTENNA | 595.50 KiB |