GRAB 1 and Transit 2A

NRL Galactic Radiation Background (GRAB) Satellite 
and JHU-APL Transit II-A Navigation Satellite
carrying first "digital clock" June 22, 1960

The Fairfax County Park Authority, Analemma Society and Great Falls Library have teamed up to present a two-part lecture series, “From Sundials to Satellites to GPS,” on April 6 and May 4, 2017. Talks will be held in the library’s meeting room from 7 to approximately 8:30 p.m.

On April 6, Stephen Malys of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will speak on the topic “Journey to the Center of the Earth-Status of the Terrestrial Reference Frame.” The program will review progress in the past 2,000 years in charting earth’s measurements, starting with the age when sundials and trigonometry were considered high tech.

On May 4, Paul Ceruzzi of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum lectures on “Not just GPS: Why Russians, the European Union, China, and India are building satellite navigation systems, and what that means for the U.S. Global Positioning System.” Ceruzzi will give a brief history of GPS and show how it has grown far beyond the expectations of its creators.

The lectures are free, and no registration is required. Participants are invited to attend one or both talks. This program ties into activities at the Park Authority’s Observatory Park at Turner Farm. The International Sundial Garden at Observatory Park is part of the Turner Farm Conceptual Development Plan and the first sundial, the Jamestown Commemorative Sundial, was installed in 2007. The Army Map Service/Defense Mapping Agency activity that was at the site from 1963 to 1993 was a Satellite Tracking Branch whose work was important to the development of GPS.

Great Falls Library is located at 9830 Georgetown Pike in Great Falls, VA. For more information about the lecture program, contact Daniela Dixon at 703-757-8560.  DOWNLOAD THE FLYER

Attachments:
Download this file (GPS-Sundials-Flyer3.pdf)GPS-Sundials-Flyer3.pdf[ ]125 kB