Westford 2

FTV-1169

46 reflectors "needles" still in orbit?

Description:

The West Ford reflector consisted of 480 million copper dipoles. The length was chosen to correspond to a half wavelength of the 8 GHz transmission frequencies used in the program. Each dipole was 1.78 cm long, and had a diameter of 25.4 µm (West Ford 1) or 17.8 µm (West Ford 2). The dispenser plus dipoles weighted 40 kg, the mass of the dipoles was 19.5 kg. For communication tests, frequencies of 7750 and 8350 MHz were used.
The experiment was greatly criticized by astronomers who feared optical and radio pollution. However the needles apparently didn′t work as a radio reflector and the feared and desired effects did not come to pass.

The West Ford Needles project was an experiment to allow long distance communications by bouncing radio waves off of a band small wires (passive dipoles) cut to a specific length. In an attempt to lay a radio-reflective ring around the world, small metal dipole needs were allowed to sublimate out of a matrix.
On October 21, 1961, NASA launched the first batch of West Ford dipoles into space. A day later, this first payload had failed to deploy from the spacecraft, and its ultimate fate was never completely determined.
On May 9, 1963, a second West Ford launch successfully dispersed its spindly cargo approximately 3,500 kilometers above the Earth, along an orbit that crossed the North and South Pole. Voice transmissions were successfully relayed between California and Massachusetts, and the technical aspects of the experiment were declared a success. As the dipole needles continued to disperse, the transmissions fell off considerably, although the experiment proved the strategy could work in principle.

Ref.: #7, #84a, #228 - update: 17.01.20