| Historia komunikacji Zemia - Księżyć - Ziemia (EME) dyletantowi Czerepakowi Miszy dedykuję Wyśmiany system anten przez dyletanta Miszę Czerep |
| The Communication Moon Relay Project The initial 1951 tests at Project PAMOR’s Stump Neck site revealed that EME echoes had a greater degree of coherence than first anticipated, as was mentioned in section 2.2. In practice, this meant that the Moon could be used as part of a modern communication system. This was a matter of great interest to the US Navy, who considered reliable communication to its fleet vital to national security. By 1954, further experiments had shown promise and a spin-off of Project PAMOR was therefore initiated within the NRL. It was named the ‘Communication Moon Relay Project’ or ‘Moon Relay’ for short, though it was also known as ‘Operation Moon Bounce’. By now, Project PAMOR had left the Stump Neck facility, leaving it solely for the purpose of lunar communication experiments. Having installed a 10 kW UHF klystron amplifier, experiments using teletype, facsimile and voice communication ensued. The latter was accomplished on 24 July 1954, when Trexler was the first person to hear his own voice from AM signals reflected off the Moon. Morse code communication had already been demonstrated on 21 October 1951. While the transmitter used the Stump Neck dish, the receiving end relied on standard military radar antennas. Operating at 301 MHz, the first successful transcontinental tests were made between Stump Neck, Maryland, and the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California, in November 1955. Only a few weeks later, using similar equipment, communication was established between Stump Neck and Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. Within a few months the Navy had signed development contracts for further experimental systems. Furthermore, by the end of 1956 it was recommended that US submarine communication should be based on the Moon Relay system. By 1960 a fully operational system for communication between Washington DC and Hawaii had been developed. At its launch a picture of the crew aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hancock, forming the words ‘MOON RELAY’, was transmitted as a facsimile via the Moon. The final Moon Relay system was based on 28 metres steerable dishes fed by 100 kW transmitters operating at 400 MHz. Its capacity was limited to 16 simultaneous teleprinter channels operating at 60 words per minute, capable of handling teletype and photographic facsimiles. In 1961, tests aboard the USS Oxford resulted in the first shore-to-ship Moon Relay communication in history, using a ship-mounted 5 metre dish. In 1962 a 1 kW transmitter was added to the Oxford, allowing for two-way communication. The experience gained during these tests paved the way for the Navy’s man-made satellite communication system, which were to arrive within a few years. |