The study of the equatorial ionosphere is rapidly becoming a mature field due, in large part, to the contributions made by JRO in radio science.

The observatory is a facility of the Instituto Geofísico del Perú operated with support from the US National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreements through Cornell University.

Although the last dipole was installed on April 27, 1962, the first incoherent scatter measurements at Jicamarca were made in early August 1961, using part of the total area projected and without the transmitter's final stage.

In 1969 ESSA turned the Observatory over to the Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP), which had been cooperating with CRPL during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957–58 and had been intimately involved with all aspects of the construction and operation of Jicamarca.

ESSA and then NOAA continued to provide some support to the operations for several years after 1969, in major part due to the efforts of the informal group called “Jicamarca Amigos” led by Prof. William E. Gordon.

A few years later the National Science Foundation began partially supporting the operation of Jicamarca, first through NOAA, and since 1979 through Cornell University via Cooperative Agreements.

Since 1969, the great majority of the radar components have been replaced and modernized with “home made” hardware and software, designed and built by Peruvian engineers and technicians.

With its pair of 30 kW peak power pulsed transmitters driving a (300 m)^2 modular antenna array, JULIA is a formidable coherent scatter radar.