[1] It became apparent in the early 1960s that certain space weather events might interfere with the U.S. objective of putting a man on the moon.

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 2nd Weather Squadron currently operates other RSTN observatories at Kaena Point, Hawaii; San Vito dei Normanni, Italy; and Learmonth, Western Australia.

The site previously included a 150-foot fully steerable antenna, which was installed in 1963 and moved to Millstone Hill in Westford, Massachusetts in 1978.