Citation
Abstract
The 64-meter antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex was dedicated in 1966, the first of three 64-meter antennas in the Deep Space Network. About three years after the antenna was dedicated, grout under the hydrostatic bearing runner was found to be interacting with the runner, causing rust to form between the runner and the sole plates upon which it rests. The rust formed unevenly and the runner could not be kept flat so in 1969 the grout was removed and replaced with a Portland cement and sand dry-pack grout that was less likely to produce rust. In the years that followed, oil leaking from the runner assembly caused progressive deterioration of the drypack grout. In 1982 over one thousand hours of spacecraft tracking time were lost due to this deterioration. In 1982 a plan was developed to rehabilitate the bearing. The plan called for raising the rotating structure free from the concrete pedestal and placing it on three pairs of external support columns. With the weight of the structure transferred to the columns, the pads and runner could be removed and the repair started. The very successful repair described here included the replacement of a significant portion of the antenna pedestal.
Details
- Volume
- 42-81
- Published
- May 15, 1985
- Pages
- 136–148
- File Size
- 929.8 KB