Around noon on January 10, 1946, a powerful pulse of radio waves shot skyward from a massive radar installation at Camp Evans in Wall Township, New Jersey. Unlike the sweeping motion of traditional radar used to search for enemy aircraft, this beam was tightly focused and aimed at a pale orb just rising above the eastern horizon — the Moon.
The pulses, transmitted at a rate of one every five seconds, raced toward the luminous target at an astonishing speed of 186,000 miles per second, piercing through the ionosphere and into the unknown void beyond Earth’s atmosphere. In a tiny shack near the base of the antenna tower, a team of engineers waited breathlessly, their eyes focused on the screen of a single 9-inch oscilloscope. Presently, a tiny spike appeared — the unmistakable signal that a radar pulse had successfully bounced back from the lunar surface. This astounding feat was repeated almost every day and night for the next several months, proving beyond doubt that radio waves could penetrate the ionosphere and be reflected off the Moon.
This experiment, known as Project Diana, marked the beginning of radar astronomy. It was also a pivotal step toward space-based communication and laid the groundwork for the future of the U.S. space program.
Credit: Pierre PRESTAT
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