“Klystron” is the generic name for the power amplifiers developed for use in radar and microwave devices. This 10 kW Klystron Tube was initially used in Project Echo, NASA’s first major experiment in satellite communications. Project Echo was intended to provide a demonstration of the feasibility of long-range communications using a passive satellite reflecting sphere. It was a part of the receiver on Earth that bounced signals off of Echo. Thereafter, this 10 kW Klystron Tube was used for two successive years to obtain at a ground radar astronomy station to obtain signals from the planet Venus. The first successful detection of a return echo from this planet came on March 10, 1961. This Klystron Tube was also used on a ground receiver to help develop the ranging system used during the Lunar Orbiter and Apollo programs.

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory transferred this object to the Museum in 1984.