A Site and Organization with
Generations of Stories and Discovery
Originally selected by NASA for its isolated location in the Pisgah National Forest, PARI was established in September 1998 as a not-for-profit public organization dedicated to providing hands-on educational, business and research opportunities for users and lovers of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.
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1916
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Pisgah National ForestPisgah National Forest is established, becoming the birthplace of science-based forestry management. |
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1963
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NASA opens the Rosman Tracking StationAs one of the two best-equipped stations in NASA’s Spacecraft Tracking And Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), Rosman played a vital role in the space program, communicating with satellites and manned space flights as they passed over the East Coast. |
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1967
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Rosman's First PictureIn 1967, the western 26m radio telescope received NASA's first color photo of the full Earth from space. |
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1967
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Rosman's First TV TransmissionRosman’s telescopes receive the first TV transmission from space. |
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1981
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The Department of DefenseThe Department of Defense begins using the site to collect satellite data and intercept Russian satellite communications throughout the Cold War. The “smiley” face on PARI’s 4.6m radio telescope was painted as a joke during the height of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was intensely interested in the DOD base and often sent satellites to photograph the campus. Each Soviet photo contained a “smiley face” as a friendly wave. |
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1995
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DOD Ceases OperationsThe facility closes and DOD operations are consolidated elsewhere. Of the 23 antennae, 19 were moved to other locations and most of the instrumentation and electronics were removed from the site. However, the bulk of the infrastructure remained, including the two signature 26 meter (85 ft.) dish antennas, and was maintained by the USDA Forest Service. |
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1997
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Don Cline VisitsDon Cline visits the facility for the first time. |
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1998
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PARI is bornAfter several years of inactivity at the site, the government decides to dismantle the facility and leave it to be maintained by USDA Forest Service. Recognizing the tremendous value and potential for the site, Don and Jo Cline stepped in. In 1998, the Clines acquired the 200-acre facility and the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) was born: a not-for-profit public organization dedicated to educating future generations of scientists. |
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2000
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Construction for Optical TelescopePARI constructs building and dome for PARI's first optical telescope on the Optical Ridge, initially used by Mercedes Lopez-Morales. |
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2001
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PARI's first planetarium presentation to studentsPARI’s first portable planetarium programs are presented to Transylvania County Schools students as a pilot program. |
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2002
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PARI holds its first summer campPARI partners with the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) to create a summer field study camp. Today, PARI continues to offer a summer space camp based on the Duke TIP programming (Above and Beyond), as well as other space and STEM summer camps. |
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2003
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Smiley becomes available for online useSmiley and the 12.2m radio telescope remain two of the very few internet-controllable radio telescopes in the world. |
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2007
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APDA is FoundedThe Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) was founded at PARI and becomes a resource for scientists, researchers and students across the globe. |
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2008
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Space Telescope Science Institute donates GAMMA-I and GAMMA-IISpace Telescope Science Institute donates two high-precision photographic plate scanners, used to generate the Hubble Space Telescope Guide Star Catalog. These two behemoths, named GAMMA-I and GAMMA-II, are the cornerstones of the scanning capabilities of APDA. SCOPE InitiatedCitizen science project SCOPE (Stellar Classifications Online Public Exploration) launched at scope.pari.edu. |
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2012
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3D Printing at PARIStarting with the 3D Planets program, PARI begins teaching kids to model the terrain of the Moon, Mars, and other planets and 3D print them. Other educational models are also produced. |
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2013
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PARI connects to NCREN & helps provide internet accessPARI is connected to the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) as part of the Golden Leaf Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI), helping to provide top-tier education internet access to Western North Carolina. DIRV’s First ObservationThe Dedicated Interferometer for Rapid Variability (DIRV), a project partnering PARI and UNC-Asheville, first observes a compact extragalactic source in S-Band as an interferometer. |
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2015
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12.2m dish begins student usePARI's 12.2 meter dish, built for the US Army by Hughes Aircraft in the late 1960's for satellite communications, begins use by students to observe hydrogen at 1.42GHz. This instrument is now PARI's flagship radio telescope for education programs. |
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2017
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Rosemary Roosa presents PARI with a “Moon Tree”Astronaut Stuart Roosa, Command Module Pilot of the Apollo 14 mission, carried seeds into space. His daughter, Rosemary Roosa, presents PARI with a “Moon Tree,” descended from trees whose seeds have traveled to the Moon! First 1.42GHz data of a total solar eclipsePARI records the first 1.42GHz data of the total solar eclipse with large radio telescopes. |
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2018
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Visitors Enjoy New CabinsGuests and summer campers enjoy our new cabins, built using wood from the trees of local PARI trees. |
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2020
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PARI Sends Space Science at Home to over 1,500 kidsPARI creates a set of 16 space science kits to send to students during the pandemic including all necessary equipment for each experiment, labs, video guides, and remote access to PARI telescopes to ensure learning continues even when visitors may not be able to come in person. |
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2022
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PARI celebrates 20 years of summer campsA new partnership with Clemson University results in new offerings each summer for both middle and high school aged learners in camps focused on research, engineering, or space exploration scenarios, summer camps are better than ever! |
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2022
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PARI History: RevealedPisgah Astronomical Research Institute: An Untold History of Spacemen & Spies, by Craig Gralley is released, containing for the first time the entire history of the site and including periods of time that were once known only to a few. From the days even before NASA broke ground in the Pisgah National Forest, through the Department of Defense, to the founding of PARI and its continuing work today, stories that have never before been told are now available for all. |
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