NASA Quito

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I wondered what had happened to the NASA Tracking Station that I had worked at so many years before and thought that others who had either worked or visited this site might also be interested.  Miryam and I,  in November, 2001,  decided to revisit the station, take pictures, and share them on the web.  The following is for people who are familiar with this station.

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A Return to NASA's Cotopaxi Station

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The drive from Quito to Cotopaxi still takes about an hour and the road is not any better than it was 35 years ago. Leaving Quito takes a while longer because the growth of the city has pushed the city limits halfway to Machachi (yes, they still make Aqua de Guitig there).  Right past the turnoff going  to Santo Domingo, a tollbooth has been installed.  The toll is only 10 cents for 4 wheelers and  is more of a nuisance than anything else.

 Soon after passing the tollbooth you start to see the large pine trees of the Cotopaxi National Forest Preserve.  Millions of pine seedlings were planted some years ago and it now is a large forest extending well past the turnoff to the station on toward Latacunga.  The turnoff is now marked by a large sign announcing you have reached the Clirsen station run by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense.  An abandoned guard house is about 100 feet down the road.  It used to be manned by armed soldiers but I guess someone finally decided that there is nothing of military importance here. 

About halfway up the road you cross a small diameter, above ground, petroleum pipeline that  runs from Quito to Latacunga.  There is now a 12 foot chain link fence completely surrounding the station and another sign at the fence entrance.  The fence entrance is locked and you use an intercom to summon someone with a key.  The first person we talked to was a guard and he was adamant that we would not be allowed to enter.  We finally were able to get through to Marco Cevallos, an engineer with Clirsen at Cotopaxi for about 13 years. 

Marco decided to spend some time and give us the full tour.  He took us to every part of the station and answered every question that he could. I can't say enough about the hospitality that Marco showed us.  He explained that Clirsen (Centro de Levantamientos Integrados de RecurSOs Naturales por Sensores Remotos)  is now in the business of taking orders for satellite imaging.  These orders come from both government and private enterprises.  The area  they cover is Central and South America. 

Most buildings and antennas were still in place and look much the same as they did 35 years ago.  The 40ft dish and the Satan systems are no longer used but still in place.  Marco said that all data now being taken is on X-Band (8-12 GHZ).  A study had been conducted by a Canadian company (MacDonald Dettwiler Inc.) to help Clirsen t set up the satellite imaging equipment. A study showed it would not be cost efficient to use the S-Band antennas.

The first part of the tour was inside the main telemetry room where Marco explained the function of the equipment and showed us the results of their work. The area that had been devoted to Satan telemetry is now a classroom.  The central area that was for shift operations is still an office but completely enclosed.  The 40 foot operations console is still intact.  A large UPS system is now in use and installed in this building.  There seemed to be a lot of cubicles and office dividers in places that equipment used to stand. 

Between the telemetry building and the 40 foot dish, just the other side of the main road, there was a fixed antenna of about 12 foot diameter.  This was obviously for receiving data from a synchronous orbiting satellite.  It is still being used at this time. Walking uphill from the telemetry building toward the restaurant area we saw the main antenna being used for data retrieval.  It is an X-Band movable dish, built in 1989.  It was being serviced by Guido Encalada, now Chief of Antenna Maintenance,  who started working at the Cotopaxi site for Esco  in June, 1970.  Guido was up in a cherry picker that I recognized as being used by NASA.

In preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Mission in 1975 a dual 14 foot dish and S-Band transmitter building was installed between the telemetry operations building and the restaurant. It is also no longer used.

Most of the Minitrack antennas were still in place although the people of Clirsen were not really sure how they had been used.  They thought they had been used for receiving telemetry data.  I tried to explain how phase differences between antennas had been used for orbital determination but don't think I really got the idea across. The Minitrack building is still  being used for an office area. 

We walked on down to the Supply Warehouse and the Power House.  The Power House was dark and it didn't seem to be used much.  We looked in and I saw all the generators setting just as if they had been turned off yesterday.  I asked if they were ever used and was told that it was much too expensive to operate them for the data that was being taken.  They used commercial power and depended on the UPS system for emergencies.  The Supply Warehouse also looked very much like it must have when NASA left in 1981.  All of the paper records (pre-computer age) were still neatly kept in their cabinets, explaining just where and how many of each item was on hand.  I looked in the warehouse and it looked as if I had stepped back in time.  The spares for all the now antique equipment were just as they should be.  If anyone is looking for spare parts for out of date tracking station equipment, this place would be a gold mine. I checked behind the supply building and saw evidence of NASA on a sign now relegated to the junk yard.

Marco had offered lunch to Miryam and I so we walked back down from the Minitrack area toward the Restaurant.  The number of llamas that we used to have at the station had increased about tenfold and they said that the herd had to be thinned out every once in a while.  When we arrived at the restaurant we found that Clirsen had a cook, Isabel Cevallos, who had prepared a chicken dinner for us.  All of the trays, dishes, pots, pans, and utensils were left from the NASA era.  During the meal Marco mentioned that rumor has it,  that before NASA left they buried 10 vehicles somewhere on site.  No one knew the exact location but there has been a hunt for them ever since.  If anyone knows the location please share it and end this age old search.

After the meal we met the Station Coordinator, Enrique Lascano.  Enrique was also an ex-Esco employee who started working at the NASA Cotopaxi Station in 1970.   He said he remembered me but I'm sorry Enrique, I just don't remember you.

It was now time for the day workers to go home and they offered to let us ride in the van back to Quito with them.  We took them up on the kind offer and made that old familiar van ride back from Cotopaxi to Quito.  They delivered us right to our door.  I can only say thank you for the hospitality that everyone with Clirsen showed us.  They were the best and I hope I can return the favor by finding out where those cars are buried!!