2023/05/12 by D. Anish Roshi, Roshi, D. Anish, Sean Marshall +24 · 1 voice
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics (physics.geo-ph) #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Planetary Science and Exploration #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Satellite Communication Systems #astro-ph.IM #physics.geo-ph #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.07780
openalex publication_date 2023/05/12 · arxiv published 2023/05/12 · arxiv updated 2023/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The Next Generation Arecibo Telescope (NGAT) was a concept presented in a white paper Roshi et al. (2021) developed by members of the Arecibo staff and user community immediately after the collapse of the 305 m legacy telescope. A phased array of small parabolic antennas placed on a tiltable plate-like structure forms the basis of the NGAT concept. The phased array would function both as a transmitter and as a receiver. This envisioned state of the art instrument would offer capabilities for three research fields, viz. radio astronomy, planetary and space & atmospheric sciences. The proposed structure could be a single plate or a set of closely spaced segments, and in either case it would have an equivalent collecting area of a parabolic dish of size 300 m. In this study we investigate the feasibility of realizing the structure. Our analysis shows that, although a single structure ~300 m in size is achievable, a scientifically competitive instrument 130 to 175 m in size can be developed in a more cost effective manner. We then present an antenna configuration consisting of one hundred and two 13 m diameter dishes. The diameter of an equivalent collecting area single dish would be ~130 m, and the size of the structure would be ~146 m. The weight of the structure is estimated to be 4300 tons which would be 53% of the weight of the Green Bank Telescope. We refer to this configuration as NGAT-130. We present the performance of the NGAT-130 and show that it surpasses all other radar and single dish facilities. Finally, we briefly discuss its competitiveness for radio astronomy, planetary and space & atmospheric science applications.