The Harvard space radio telescope project sent four small radio telescopes above the ionosphere for the first time Saturday. A. Edward Lilley, associate professor of Astronomy, head of the project, said that a preliminary study indicated that all four instruments worked throughout the flight.
A team of scientists operating on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean sent coded pulses to the rocket during flight in an effort to study the ionosphere and measure its leakage of low-frequency radio energy. The ionized particles normally reflect or absorb almost all energy.
Each telescope consisted of a small transistorized receiver and a collapsed antenna which extended to a length of ten feet on radio command. The total weight of the four gadgets was less than ten pounds; operating frequencies were between 700 kilocycles and 13 megacycles.
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