Abandoned NASA Jet Propulsion Labs Trailer photographed

Discarded somewhere in the desert near Bishop, California, photographer Richard Harrington came across a dilapidated retro-space-age NASA trailer, filled with still-functional control panels and flickering Nixie Tubes ticking down to some imaginary, Cold War predicated apocalypse. I'm surprised he didn't just hook the trailer up to his car's hitch and drive off with it: the ultimate geek's weekend camper.

NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory Trailer [This Is Harrington via Gizmodo]

[#1 posted by ridestowe , August 11, 2008 4:40 AM]

i'll gladly drive off with it, can we get some coordinates?

[#2 posted by icky2000 , August 11, 2008 5:43 AM]

The photos are frustrating - missing a lot of detail and no overall view of the inside of the trailer. I can make out a few things, though, including a couple off the shelp components from HP.

VLBI Formatter: refers to very long baseline interferometry, a protocol used to link radio telescopes all over the world to do precision imaging of astrophysical objects.

7mm/K-band box...7mm is ~43GHz and K-band is 20-40GHz.

VEDI signal multiplexer: multiplexers in general combine multiple signals into one signal for monitoring/recording/analysis.

Zenith/azimuth dials: the horizon coordinate system used to determine the exact placement of an object in space (you have to know where a radio source is in the sky if you want to point an antenna at it and receive a signal...).

Certainly appears to be a satellite radio truck of some sort but all of that gear appears to be receiving, not transmitting.

If I came across that trailer in the middle of nowhere I'd be so excited I'd pee my pants.

[#3 posted by thecheat , August 11, 2008 6:37 AM]

Strange that it would still have power. I would expect that any batteries would have long gone dead.

[#4 posted by KurtMac , August 11, 2008 9:12 AM]

I just want to take that "Control Status" panel home and somehow hook it up to my PC so every time I boot up its like launching a rocket. The "COMPUTER IN CONTROL" light would be oh-so satisfying.

[#5 posted by guy_jin , August 11, 2008 10:01 AM]

I find it odd that something abandoned is still being powered up... and hasn't become the squat of some homeless person.

I don't think it's actually abandoned, just very low security.

[#6 posted by Anonymous , August 11, 2008 12:09 PM]

#1: you can start looking from 37°14'02" latitude, 118°16'56" longitude at 1222 meters above sea level. The trailer is obviously connected with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. One of the boxes even has the label OVRO PHASE LOCK.
http://www.ovro.caltech.edu/

-- LH

[#7 posted by frogmarch , August 12, 2008 7:56 AM]

"Discarded somewhere in the desert near Bishop, California, photographer Richard Harrington..."

Why would someone throw away a perfectly good photographer? Seems a waste.

[#8 posted by GatoRanch , October 18, 2008 12:46 PM]

I'd LOVE to have this in my yard!