Its primary purpose was to test long-range radio propagation and radar techniques in the presence of the aurora borealis.
There was some concern that the aurora could shield incoming reentry vehicles from observation until they were too low to be effectively attacked by the long range interceptor missiles then being designed (Nike Zeus).
Forsyth had done extensive research on the aurora while earning his PhD at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, including the first observations using radar.
Finding a suitable location was not difficult; they wanted a site near Saskatoon so travel from the University would not be onerous, but one that would have line-of-sight visibility of Churchill.
It was equipped with a conical scanning feed, providing higher resolution and making automatic tracking easier.
For this event, a recorded message by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was to be broadcast from the Millstone Hill site, reflected off the Moon, and received at PARL.
The DRTE Computer was used in this role too, calculating the path of the satellite over the PARL site, allowing the radar dish to be steered into the proper location to receive the signals from the quickly moving source.