Design and Implementation of Visitors Center for National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station

SRI's Envirotechnical Program helped the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) tell the story of the Command and Data Acquisition Station (CDAS) by designing the layout and exhibits for a new stand-alone Visitors Center at the Fairbanks CDAS. The NESDIS Fairbanks CDAS is located in a historic gold-mining valley in Alaska’s interior about 15 miles northeast of Fairbanks. The CDAS, opened in 1961, represented one of the first government facilities in support of space satellites used to observe earth conditions. The CDAS continues to be on the cutting edge of satellite technology, supporting several modern environmental satellite programs and related international scientific efforts. SRI researched the history and operations of the station through review of government files; consultation with government staff working for NESDIS, NASA, and other agencies; official requests to repository libraries; and interviews with retired staff and local gold miners and landowners. The data collected were used to prepare exhibits, including museum-quality wall displays, an interactive touch-screen audio-visual unit, a highly detailed scaled replica of a historic satellite antenna, and a glass display case housing important items from the station’s colorful past.