[3] It became apparent in the early 1960s that certain space weather events might interfere with the stated U.S. objective of a crewed mission to the moon.
In particular, the sun emits continuous electromagnetic energy and electrically charged particles, which can cause disturbances in the near-Earth environment and disrupt satellite communications.
The United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) was thus assigned the task of developing and validating a network of ground-based solar observatories.
AFRL established a worldwide network of sweep frequency recorders from which estimates of the shock speed in the corona could be made.
The radio and optical observatories are operated by detachments of the 2nd Weather Group, as follows: The RSTN is complemented in its real-time capability by a radio telescope operated from 25 MHz (the ionospheric cutoff) to 1,800 MHz by the Ionospheric Prediction Service at the Paul Wild Observatory in Culgoora, New South Wales, Australia.