International politics, intrigue, and amazing scientific
feats create the story behind NASA’s quest to communicate
in deep space
The astonishing success of the United States' quest to
explore space depends upon NASA's visionary Deep Space
Network (DSN), a communications grid that provides the
backbone of antennas and satellite links that track and
control spacecraft launched from Earth. Douglas J. Mudgway
participated in development and operation of the DSN from
its infancy in the 1960s to its maturity in the 1990s, and
he brings his practical experience to this story of the
challenges, successes, and frequent failures that beset the
dedicated engineers who turned the initial vision into
reality.
Set against the Cold War race for technical supremacy in
space, this well-illustrated book offers an unprecedented
inside view of the antennas that have been indispensable in
missions to the farthest reaches of our solar system. These
gigantic instruments--about one acre in surface area and
weighing over 6 million pounds--are among the largest of
their kind ever constructed. Located at remote sites in
California, Spain, and Australia, they have provided an
international community of scientists with a deep space
connection to the planets that has enabled unmanned
spacecraft to return a wealth of data to Earth. Radio
astronomers, too, have engaged these instruments to probe
the mysteries of the cosmos.
Big Dish describes how these exquisite instruments
work, how they came into being, and the problems
encountered in their construction and in enhancing their
performance over time to meet the demands of ever more
ambitious planetary missions. It discusses the complexities
of deep space communications in accessible language and
introduces readers to the human story of perseverance and
ingenuity that has maintained these great antennas for more
than forty years. This is also a behind-the-scenes look at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where
political challenges, personal intrigue, and feats of
brilliant engineering all contributed to the United States'
preeminence in deep space exploration.