Telecom Radio Communication Station

Statement of Significance

Historic Value – Importance for the density of diversity of cultural features illustrating the human occupation and evolution of the locality.
Historic Value – Importance in relation to an event, phase or activity of historic importance in the locality. The station is of importance for the role it played in NASA and European Space Agency space missions.
Historic Value – Importance as an example of technical, creative, design or artistic excellence, innovation or achievement in a particular period.
Research Value – Importance for information/archaeological material contributing to a wider understanding of natural or cultural history by virtue of its use as a research site, teaching site, type locality, reference or benchmark site.
Research Value – Importance in demonstrating technical innovation or achievement.
Social Value – Importance as a place highly valued by a community or cultural group for reasons of social, cultural or education purposes.

Physical Description

The NASA Tracking Station has mostly been demolished with many of the foundations remaining. Only one building from the SPAN Facility within the station remains on site. The station now consists of a wide range of telecommunication equipment.

History

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Tracking Station was constructed at Carnarvon in 1964. The NASA Tracking Station was built to support the Gemini space program and replaced the Muchea Tracking Station, which had been used during the Mercury missions. This was the second of five such tracking stations established in Australia for the manned space programs and for scientific satellites. The other stations were located at Island Lagoon (1960) in South Australia and at Tidbinbilla, Orroral and Honeysuckle Creek in the Australia Capital Territory. In January 1964, the station went into operation tracking and plotting the first few hours of Ranger VI’s flight to the moon. The NASA Tracking Station was officially opened in June 1964. The NASA Tracking Station in Carnarvon provided the basis for the OTC Satellite Earth Station to be located in Brown’s Range in 1966. Land cables connected the earth station to the NASA Tracking Station. An operating and technical agreement granted OTC licence to process satellite transmissions in Australia. NASA’s information was sent from the tracking station to OTC Satellite Earth Station (fmr) and from there through the dishes to NASA’s base in Houston, Texas. The two stations were involved in the Apollo series which operated from October 1968 to December 1972. These missions resulted in the first manned lunar landing in July 1969, as well as the establishment of an Automated Lunar Scientific Experiment Package (ALSEP) in 1972. In May 1973, the two facilities were also involved in the launch of Skylab, the first US Earth-orbiting space laboratory. The Skylab project resulted in man’s longest space flight to date. Other collaborative projects included the launch of Surveyor 3, an unmanned landing on the moon, and various interplanetary probes such as the Mariner series to Venus and Mars (1967-1973) and the Pioneer series to Jupiter (1972-1973). The site formed the largest NASA station outside of mainland USA. The NASA Tracking Station was closed in 1975. The original SPAN facility building is the sole remaining building on site. The existing road network and building and antenna foundations can still be seen on site with the structures themselves demolished. The site is currently owned by Broadcast Australia.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium/Low

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.