 The site was first developed by the Naval Research Laboratory in the early 1960s as the site of a radio telescope that would gather intelligence on Soviet radar and radio signals reflected from the moon and would gather radioastronomical data on outer space, but the project was halted in 1962 before the telescope construction was completed.The site was then developed as a radio receiving station.The site was activated as "Naval Radio Station Sugar Grove" on May 10, 1969, and two Wullenweber AN/FRD-10 Circulary Disposed Antenna Arrays (CDAAs) were completed on November 8, 1969.