photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Dave Beedon | all galleries >> Places >> Arizona >> Arizona: Maricopa > Antenna for tracking things in orbit... 20160330_3370
previous | next
30-MAR-2016

Antenna for tracking things in orbit... 20160330_3370

view map


Well, it's only part of the antenna, and it has been out of service since 2013. It's the main component of an abandoned Air Force facility just north of Maricopa, Arizona. The facility was part of the Air Force's "space fence" system, a set of transmitters and receivers that detects objects orbiting the earth, including space debris.

Its modest buildings are clearly visible from the nearby highway (SR 347). Every time I drive between Maricopa and Phoenix I see it and for a while I wondered what the place was. That led to examination in Wikimapia, which shed light on the facility and the system of which it was a part. The facility was vacated in October 2013.

A chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire, still surrounds the facility. A few buildings still stand, boarded up, but some doors stand open, as if the buildings are being aired out. This is the northern end of the antenna; the southern portion of the antenna is missing. This view is eastward.

More information is in this Wikipedia article.

Apple iPhone 5
1/3000s f/2.4 at 4.1mm iso50 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment