PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact:  Franklin O'Donnell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                         October 30, 1996

STUDENTS TO SCAN HEAVENS WITH REVITALIZED NASA DISH ANTENNA 

     Students from around the country will have the opportunity 
to study the solar system, galaxies and quasars with a radio 
telescope which NASA will operate in collaboration with a 
California school district.

     A 34-meter-diameter (112-foot) dish antenna at Goldstone, 
CA, which was used to track deep space missions for more than 
three decades before it was decommissioned in 1996, will be 
remotely controlled by students and educators at the Apple Valley 
Unified School District's science and Technology Center in Apple 
Valley, CA.  The Center is 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) from 
Goldstone.

     NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and Congressman Jerry 
Lewis (R-CA) were on hand today (Oct. 30) for the signing of a 
memorandum of understanding between NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory and the school district.  JPL manages NASA's Deep 
Space Network, a worldwide network of giant antenna dishes used 
to track spacecraft and make radio astronomy studies.

     "This collaboration is a great example of taking a NASA 
resource and putting it into the hands of young people," said Dr. 
Michael J. Klein, project manager at JPL.

     According to Rick Piercy, director of the Apple Valley 
Science and Technology Center, "Students will be introduced to a 
new world of exploration as they study the sky at wavelengths far 
beyond the tiny slice of wavelengths that human vision can 
detect."

     Beginning in 1997, the giant antenna dish will be used 
initially by students in Apple Valley to study deep space objects 
such as distant galaxies and quasars.  By the end of the decade, 
the center plans to make the facility available to classrooms 
across the nation via remote control linkups over the Internet.

     In addition to studying objects at the outer edges of the 
known universe, students will be able to tune in to more local 
phenomena, such as natural radio emissions from the giant planet 
Jupiter within the solar system.

     "Our vision in visible light is extremely limited," said 
Piercy. "With a  radio telescope astronomers can study the sky 
over a span of wavelengths that we cannot see".

     Built in 1964, the giant, steerable antenna was used to 
track such missions at NASA's Lunar Orbiters as well as solar 
system exploration spacecraft including Mariners, Pioneers, 
Viking, Voyager, Magellan and Galileo.  Its function in 
spacecraft tracking is being taken over by newer antennas at the 
desert complex.

     Under the memorandum of understanding, the Apple Valley 
Science and Technology Center will oversee telescope operations 
and provide technical support to students and teachers.  JPL will 
continue to maintain the antenna dish, train a cadre of Apple 
Valley volunteers on telescope operations and participate in 
development of the interactive science curriculum.

     "The research that the students will be doing is real, and 
discoveries are likely," said Klein.  "In addition, students will 
be exposed to scientific methodology -- the way that scientists 
and engineers work."

     JPL manages the Deep Space Network for NASA's Office of 
Space Flight, Washington, DC.

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