Jonathan Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex - Downrange Primary Tracking Instrumentation Station
CSR JDMTA Workplace Location: 120 miles South of Patrick Air Force Base, about 15 miles North of West Palm Beach. Jonathan Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex (JDMTA) is on 11 acres of land that was a part of the Jonathan Dickinson Florida state park. JDMTA was constructed during 1985-86 and was certified to provide launch support on Jan. 15, 1987. This permitted the Grand Bahama tracking station to be shut down permanently shortly thereafter. The Grand Bahama station had provided launch support from 1954 to 1987. 
Why is JDMTA located so far South of Cape Canaveral? The Eastern Range has always needed a tracking station in a location that provides a radio signal path between ground station instrumentation and the launch vehicle that does not pass through the rocket exhaust plume. Some launch vehicles rocket exhaust attenuates radio signals that pass through the exhaust plume. This degrades Radar, Telemetry, and Command Destruct signals as “seen” by launch support instrumentation located in the launch area as the launch vehicle proceeds up and away from the launch area instrumentation. CSR - JDMTA Community
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