History of End Station III
This page documents the history of ES3, as found during research by curious SSI members.
Founding and Construction
ES3 was constructed as part of the HEPL physics lab in the 1960s, and believed to be operational by 1972 (source). At the time, HEPL had buildings across modern day e-quad, as shown in this image. The only buildings that remain today are ES3 (ES2 appears to be a later addition), and Varian buildings (which have received major renovations).
The reason for HEPL construction coinciding with SLAC construction is unclear. SLAC was built in
Accelerators
The accelerators in ES3 are unclear. There was a series of linear accelerators developed starting in the 1940s. It's unclear where these were developed (the first in the basement of main quad), however they predate ES3 and later were installed at SLAC's, which has completed before 1693, before ES3 was finished.
Gravity Probe B
Gravity Probe B was a satellite designed in collaboration between Stanford, NASA, and Lockheed Martin to test theories of General Relativity (source). It was first proposed in the 60s and didn't launch until 2004, and is believed to be housed in ES3 through development in the 1980s as a facility with vibration and temperature control sufficient for calibrating the spacecraft. A marker in ES3 marked the location of the accelerometer calibration, precisely determining the gravity at a point in ES3.
Dark Matter Research
In the 1990s, ES3 became the home of dark matter research. In particular, the researchers expanded Tunnel A to be larger and more cavernous, allowing detection of cosmic rays with shielding provided by the Earth. Reports here suggest that the tunnels were 10m before expansion, and expanded to 30m. Details of the experiement are in this paper.
SSI Moves In
SSI was originally working out of the room in Durand, which suited the club as it originally was a space enthusiast club than a project based engineering club. However, as the club began pursuing engineering projects, the space quickly became a limiting factor.
In 2017, SSI moved into ES3. Unsubstantiated lore in the club suggests this was due to an incident where a high schooler hurt their hand while drilling, which eventually caused the university to realize the space was not suited for engineering work. SSI was given the M300 suite [source].
As the club grew, SSI expanded slowly into the basement. It's suspected this was in 2018 or 2019, and there was never a formal agreement to use the downstairs space but the building manager graciously let us as it was underutilized. This downstairs space was named Dragon, and the upstairs space ISS.
Solar Instillation
ES3 was chosen as one of 15 buildings on campus to have solar installed on the roof. Installation occurred in 2016, and is now among the largest rooftop solar arrays on campus. (Source)
Construction
SSI's involvement in construction began in 2023. Initial plans involved moving SSI either to a basement room under M300 or the M200 suite, the latter of which the construction crews eventually selected. Due to the demolition of Flight Club's Cedar Hall at the same time, at one point the Stanford administration also tried to add Flight Club to M200, but pushback from both clubs eventually prompted the administration to give Flight Club a room in Durand instead.
The first phase of the construction involved the refurbishment of M200, where walls were removed and new appliances installed. Partway through this phase, SSI's downstairs lab was briefly relocated to the south side of the basement, while construction began on the north side to demolish the restrooms and closets,and refurbish the north tunnel for the [TODO] lab.
In phase two of construction, SSI moved from the basement into M200, which would be the new second home from the club. M300 was unchanged through it all. SSI was also given a shipping container outside ES3 for long-term storage.