Nope, The Stanford Dish Isn’t Listening For Aliens. It Was Built to Spy on Russia

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2022

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former Menlo Park resident Jim Timmons remembers the park around the Stanford Dish fondly. It has tons of wildlife and great views. But he wants to know more about the massive satellite dish in the middle of it. The 1960s-era parabolic antenna radio telescope was built to keep tabs on the Russian space program at the height of the Cold War. It's still used for research. Additional Reading No, the Stanford Dish Isn't Listening For Aliens, But It Was Designed to Spy on Russia Sign up for Bay Curious' monthly email newsletter Reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jessica Placzek, Carly Severn, Jen Chien, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	On the Western edge of Stanford University's sprawling 8,000 acre campus stands a giant satellite
0:10.9	dish pointed at the sky. It's known simply as the dish and it stands
0:16.8	out among Stanford's rolling green or yellow hills depending on the season.
0:22.0	Who built the dish?
0:23.7	When was it built?
0:25.1	For what purpose?
0:26.9	Is it still in service?
0:28.3	If it's not in service,
0:29.8	when was it taken out of service? I think that's the bulk of it. That's former
0:34.8	Menlo Park resident Jim Timmons who retired from a career in finance four years
0:39.1	ago. He's now moved to a farm outside of Toronto in Canada, but he still listens to Bay Curious.
0:46.1	I still stream KQED and I still listen to Bay Curious Podcast.
0:50.7	And he still dreams about the dish. Not just the satellite dish, but the lovely park and
0:56.4	walking path that surround the massive saucer, that 600,000 people visit each year.
1:02.0	Hey everyone. thousand people visit each year.
1:08.0	Hey everyone, I'm Olivia Allen Price and this is Bay Curious, the podcast that explores the Bay Area one question at a time.
1:11.0	This week we're answering Jim's questions
1:13.6	about the Stanford dish.
1:15.4	And the question that I have,
1:17.7	are the rumors I heard about the dish
1:19.7	that it's listening for aliens?
	...

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