Ideas for future large single dish radio telescopes

Hans J. Kärcher; Jacob W. M. Baars

doi:10.1117/12.2055456

10 July 2014 Ideas for future large single dish radio telescopes

Hans J. Kärcher, Jacob W. M. Baars

Proceedings Volume 9145, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V; 914503 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055456
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The existing large single dish radio telescopes of the 100m class (Effelsberg, Green Bank) were built in the 1970s and 1990s. With some active optics they work now down to 3 millimeter wavelength where the atmospheric quality of the site is also a limiting factor. Other smaller single dish telescopes (50m LMT Mexico, 30m IRAM Spain) are located higher and reach sub-millimeter quality, and the much smaller 12m antennas of the ALMA array reach at a very high site the Terahertz region. They use advanced technologies as carbon fiber structures and flexible body control.

We review natural limits to telescope design and use the examples of a number of telescopes for an overview of the available state-of-the-art in design, engineering and technologies. Without considering the scientific justification we then offer suggestions to realize ultimate performance of huge single dish telescopes (up to 160m). We provide an outlook on design options, technological frontiers and cost estimates.

Citation Download Citation

Hans J. Kärcher and Jacob W. M. Baars "Ideas for future large single dish radio telescopes", Proc. SPIE 9145, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, 914503 (10 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055456

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