The Pioneer antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications complex. The antenna could be moved to a site south of Barstow Community College under a NASA/Goldstone/BCC proposal.
BARSTOW — A piece of space history, a NASA research center, planetarium and Smithsonian-affiliate museum could be coming to Barstow. At a meeting on Thursday, the Barstow Community College’s board of trustees voted to further explore the possibility of relocating the 90-foot-tall Pioneer antenna to a site south of the BCC campus. The antenna would be placed alongside the college’s proposed science and technology building, a facility which would also house a space museum, observatory and several labs for college and NASA use, said Peter Robles, an environment, health, safety and facilities manager for NASA in Pasadena. He and other members of the Center of Space and Technology, which wishes to bring the space center to BCC, gave a presentation to the college at the meeting. Robles said that Barstow was chosen for the site because of its location at the intersections of Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. Once built, the project could attract as many as 250,000 visitors per year, he said. The facility is expected to cost $1.3 million annually to operate but could bring in as much as $2.5 million in ticket revenue. The museum associated with the facility would be affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution and would be eligible to receive items for the institution’s national collection, Robles said. The project could cost as much as $28 million to build, but none of the college’s general fund revenue would go towards the project, BCC President Cliff Brock said. He said that the college would contribute towards the construction of the college’s science building, but most of the cost of the facility and anticipated $3 million needed to move the Pioneer antenna from NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex at Fort Irwin would be paid by federal grants. Brock said he anticipates that the community could benefit substantially from the project. “I think a project like this could transform the college. Such a facility in Barstow could also transform the community in terms of businesses and tourism,” he said. Brock said that the college will form an exploratory committee and begin discussing the proposal with community members. He said he hopes that with the facility, the college would be able to better prepare students for careers in the space industry at places such as Goldstone and Edwards Air Force Base. He said that the project is still in the very early stages, but the facility could be built in four to eight years depending on state funding for the science building. Marie Massey, business manager for Goldstone-contractor ITT Industries, said that the partnership between the space center and the college would allow for the preservation of a invaluable piece of space history. The Pioneer antenna was built in 1958 as part of the deep space network of tracking stations to support the first lunar probes, Voyagers 1 and 2, as well as the Apollo missions which placed men on the moon. The antenna was decommissioned in 1981 and named a National Historic Landmark. It currently sits deep within the Goldstone complex, but with the expansion of Fort Irwin, the antenna is inaccessible to visitors and needs to be moved, Massey said. “We have a national historic landmark, and I can’t take anyone to go see it,” she said. She said that Goldstone, NASA and the college have been in talks for two years to move the antenna to Barstow. Massey said that the city has a strong historical tie to the antenna. “Back in the ‘50s (Pioneer antenna’s employees) were all Barstow residents. This is a piece of Barstow history,” she said. BCC astronomy instructor Scott Bulkley said he’s excited to see the project moving forward. “Before it seemed a little like a pipe dream. it seems like much more of a reality now,” he said. Bulkley said he sees “a tremendous amount of interest in astronomy” in Barstow and was pleased to see the proposal include space for NASA researchers to work at the site. He said that BCC will soon build a small observatory for educational purposes, but a larger facility as part of the space center would allow for research. Bulkley said he expects the project to generate substantial interest and would like to see a monthly community-wide “astronomy night” in Barstow. He said he’s happy to see moving the antenna as an alternative to dismantling it. “It’d be like getting rid of one of the Apollo capsules; you just can’t do that,” he said. Contact the writer: (760) 256-4126 or jason_smith@link.freedom.com To move a 90 foot tall antenna BARSTOW — The most difficult part of the plan to bring the Pioneer antenna to Barstow will probably be the moving of the 90-foot-tall structure. The entire structure would need to be disassembled, transported the 45 miles from NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex to the proposed site south of the Barstow Community College campus, said Marie Massey business manager for Goldstone-contractor ITT Industries. Tim Sink, antenna maintenance specialist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that although difficult, the relocating of the antenna is possible. The process would involve a 12-person work crew over several months and cost as much as $3 million. Sink said that the mirrored panels and support structures would be the first parts disassembled. The top parts of the structure would arrive before the bottom pieces. The parabolic dish used to “catch” the signals from outer space is 26 meters in diameter and would need to be disassembled by cranes and placed on large flatbed trucks. “Since it’s 26 meters in diameter when fully assembled, it will not go down the road real well,” he said. Sink said that the Mojave River Bridge, the First Street Bridge and the curves on fort Irwin road are just a few of the transportation challenges that the reassembly team would face. He said the major reassembly challenge would finding replacements for the 1958-era bolts used in the original structure. He said that although no longer functioning, the antenna is in relatively good condition. “It’s in good shape, we have no corrosion,” he said.
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