It is named after Ambrose Swasey of the Warner & Swasey Company, which built the 82-inch telescope named after Struve at McDonald Observatory.
Then McDonald Observatory built a special purpose system (MLRS) just for ranging, and achieved roughly 3 cm accuracies mid-to-late
This financial step aided in the early years to provide more extensive funding for the institution, and it was the first legislation relating to the McDonald Observatory.
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His analysis of the B0 star Tau Scorpii, obtained on his 1939 visit to Yerkes and McDonald Observatories, provided the first detailed analysis of a star other than the Sun, and he was able to determine the physics and composition of the star’s atmosphere.
The experiment currently consists of four telescopes located in Australia, Namibia, Turkey, and at the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas.
The telescope was completed in 1968 with substantial NASA assistance, and is named after Harlan James Smith, the first Texas director of McDonald Observatory.