Eberhardt Rechtin, an engineer who played a key role in the development of space technology during the Cold War, has died. He was 80.
Rechtin died on Friday at Torrance Memorial Hospital after lengthy battles with several illnesses, his family said in a statement.
His technical accomplishments included the creation of the Deep Space Network, a system developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California that captures communications from distant planetary spacecraft.
Although it may seem routine now to see photos from the surface of Mars, the network required the solution of huge technical problems in the 1960s. Not only were signals extraordinarily weak after traveling millions of kilometres through space, but they also had to be captured by a series of receiving stations as the Earth rotated. Ultimately, the network became a critical part of US breakthroughs in planetary science.
Rechtin also helped develop electronics systems for the nation’s first space probe, Explorer, said Albert Wheelon, a close friend and fellow aerospace industry leader.
”He felt his time in public service had been a privilege,” Wheelon said. ”There was never a careerist view of his work. He was a selfless person.”
Rechtin studied engineering at the California Institute of Technology during World War II and received a PhD there in 1950.
He worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory until 1967, when he was named director of the Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. One of his first decisions was to cancel a programme to develop a mechanical elephant intended to fight in the jungles during the Vietnam War. He later was named an assistant secretary of Defence, helping to oversee defence intelligence operations. – Sapa-AP