Perched in the Stanford foothills is a still-working relic that has helped everything from NASA Mars missions to collecting bounced signals from the moon. Nowadays, it’s primarily used to track objects in space, to communicate with low-orbit satellites and assist in other general space assignments.
A collection of steel and aluminum, the Stanford Dish was built in the 1960s by the U.S. Air Force in collaboration with the Stanford Research Institute. Now called SRI International, the research firm and Stanford parted ways during the Vietnam War after student protests against the university’s involvement in U.S. defence department-funded projects.
From assisting the Apollo program to helping college students regain communication with their small cube satellites, the 150-ft diameter Dish has seen several projects.
However, most locals know the Dish not for its storied past but rather as a landmark along the 3.7-mile hiking loop that traverses the foothills. From sledding in the snow to seeing an SRI engineer’s favorite part of the Dish itself, these Dish-goers’ stories transport you into the foothills for an immersive experience of your own.
