[Elecraft] Arecibo antenna collapses

[Peter Hall]

Frank,

I was the foundation project engineer for the Square Kilometre Array (which your URL refers to), as well as leading much of the effort to get the SKA pathfinders on the ground here in Western Australia.  As you know, there's a complementary section of the Telescope in South Africa.  Naturally we're all excited about the prospects of the SKA, with the pathfinders having already done much good work.  However, despite many advances in signal processing over the years there is still a place for very large single aperture telescopes, such as the Chinese FAST instrument and (formerly) Arecibo.  I might add that a good deal of the impetus for FAST came from the Chinese participation in the SKA consortium, a body in which the US originally participated but later withdrew from.  While the millions of dollars do indeed mount up, the direct benefits and spin-offs from astronomy are substantial, even putting aside the basic science outcomes.  I certainly hope the US is able to continue on its distinguished path in radio astronomy and, SKA and FAST aside, there are many other prospects - on and off-shore - for ensuring that happens.  Like all science, though, it relies on the enlightened being able to spread the good word!

73, Peter (VK6HP).




-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net <elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Frank Stein
Sent: Thursday, 3 December 2020 10:20 AM
To: Wes <wes_n7ws at triconet.org>
Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Arecibo antenna collapses

There is also the Square kilometer array radio telescope:
https://secure-web.cisco.com/12MAQQcd67xMePXjKd5h8T5I3McR14SDT4pj4Zx1A9cA08lv5nb8kOz0ZNAvZX7GbXyBQ-YSj_PmhDxNs3AlPdEx8-DL3FE-ZfPRtfBQwb6L5l06oidXgV_pudn0RjC4twig28CEn5qf9qqWWAey1azWK0TGwqHtIzASG3YBZhyJ-xrGUpz2x6sMGYKEWlg0qj-bHsWpA0lzPav6HAYtn9zFUmFBkDedjsZ5VSdPKmJeEKouXEzLAHbNJ_HnJ6LqHZQDTDJ7jLRyZutzV23lOI6A3jj4Mcbuab07BQrN0VV-6bCdnPvNpZNDWRFczzGu-F1fGlvlfXCGhCTigYwsyERaQLafgwrCJVuKdKww-6uFBy9lftPLhRazSzlCZX7--hRyXLmaD4auG6WsEz1YUxd9moALrCA-7mNSRynjOZrLRm0AKYjyi5G0v7yfYkN9D_D79Bn8paF0SbEa7S7Y3i8zAevBzseCNeDmzNNp7EaU/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skatelescope.org%2F

It could be ready to operate before the decade is out and is even bigger.

- frank
W4TG

On Wed, Dec 2, 2020 at 7:03 PM Wes <wes_n7ws at triconet.org> wrote:

> Did they show you the transmitter?
>
> Wes  N7WS
>
>
> On 12/2/2020 10:22 AM, Andrew Faber via Elecraft wrote:
> > This is certainly getting way off topic on the Elecraft reflector, 
> > but I
> can’t resist mentioning that I have visited the FAST telescope in 
> Guizhou Province.  Here is a brief explanation from my trip notes (we 
> were guests because my wife is an astronomer with many Chinese 
> colleagues).  It’s odd that they are creating a tourist destination, 
> since normally such telescopes are located to minimize RFI.
> >
> > “We were met by a driver from FAST in a Honda Odyssey for the 
> > two-hour
> drive to Pingtang, China’s self-proclaimed “Astronomy City.”  There is 
> a huge amount of new construction, as they try to take advantage of 
> the FAST to create a tourist destination. There are new shops and 
> hotels being built, and on the sides of the roads they even have 
> statues and bas reliefs of famous scientists and scientific 
> instruments.  FAST stands for “Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical 
> radio Telescope,” and that’s just what it is – outdoing the 300-meter 
> radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico by far.  It’s in a valley that 
> had a dozen or so homes before they houses were demolished.  It’s 500 
> meters across, and is partly steerable, since the panels can be 
> somewhat deformed by 4,000 actuators pulling on cables that tug on the 
> panels that comprise the reflective surface.  The receiving “cabin” is 
> suspended on cables attached to six huge (maybe 350-400 feet
> tall) towers.  So by moving the cabin and pulling on cables, they can 
> apparently track through about 20 degrees, unlike Arecibo, which is 
> fixed in a spherical shape.  The actuators that deform the mirror into 
> a parabola are hydraulic and need only pull about a foot and a half or 
> so on each cable.  Although it was late, we drove down for a quick 
> look at the telescope, since it wasn’t raining.  It’s an unbelievably 
> impressive mechanical construct.
> >
> > 73, andy ae6y
>
>
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