Millstone Hill Antennas

Millstone Hill became an important site in the development of electromagnetic communication in 1957, when a just completed dish built on the site became the first American antenna to track the world's first satellite - the short-lived Soviet Sputnik 1. Antennas at Millstone have been instrumental in developing aircraft early warning and ballistic missile defense systems such as SAGE and the DEW line. The larger of two upper atmosphere research antennas is a 220 foot fixed antenna which was used by the military to develop long range communication for submarines and remote radar sites by bouncing waves through the ionosphere. Several other unusual antennas have been built at the site by the Air Force, Lincoln Lab, and the National Science Foundation, including infrared and laser instruments for long-range probing, at Lincoln Labs Firepond facility.