West Ford Needles

Westford Needles

Westford Needle Dispenser

The West Ford Needles project was an experiment to allow long distance communications by bouncing radio waves off of a band small wires (passive dipoles) cut to a specific length. In an attempt to lay a radio-reflective ring around the world, small metal dipole needs were allowed to sublimate out of a matrix. Two experiments were conducted, one in 1961 and another in 1963. The 1961 experiment was not successful when the needles failed to sufficiently disperse. The 1963 experiment was successful. The nature of the Westford-Drag payload is not clear.

The West Ford reflector consisted of 480 million copper dipoles. The length was chosen to correspond to a half wavelength of the 8-GHz transmission frequencies used in the program. Other West Ford details are as follows: 

The experiment was greatly criticized by astronomers who feared optical and radio pollution. However the needles apparently didn't work as a radio reflector and the feared and desired effects did not come to pass.