NRAO Electronics, 1996

Subject

Description

NRAO's MAP team in 1996: l. to r. John Webber, Ed Wollack, Nancyjane Bailey, Bill Lakatosh, Skip Thacker, and Marian Pospieszalski. In June 1996 NASA contracted with NRAO to design and build amplifiers for the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), later renamed the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) after Dr. David Wilkinson, a member of the science team and pioneer in the study of cosmic background radiation. The WMAP satellite mapped the temperature of the background sky in five spectral bands with an angular resolution of 0.3 degrees and sensitivity of 20 microKelvins/pixel after a 9-year mission (Sept. 2001 – August 2010). These measurements have helped to secure rigorous constraints on the origin, content, age, and geometry of the Universe. The MAP team produced total of 120 space qualified amplifiers covering five frequency bands: 20-25, 28-37, 35-46, 53-69, 82-104 GHz. The team worked full tilt on production for several years, and the entire CDL celebrated on 23 October 1999 when the last of 120 amplifiers were shipped. Other MAP team participants not included in the photo: Tod Boyd, Ron Harris, Greg Morris, Gerry Petencin and Bill Wireman; machine shop support came from Tony Marshall, Garnett Taylor, and Matt Dillon, and plating support from Vince Summers.