We tested the dish by downloading images and raw data directly from GOES 18 in geostationary orbit 36,000km away.
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Our ground station utilizing a donated Green Heron RT21 controller from RMHAM and a cooled HackRF One.
Our dish in bird bath position and secured for a heavy wind storm.
I lead a student team building a radio telescope at the Sommers-Bausch Observatory using donated parts based on the MIT Haystack SRT design.
The system also serves as a satellite ground station, with feeds supporting reception up to 6 GHz.
We routinely receive data from GOES weather satellites for educational demonstrations and observe CubeSats, amateur radio satellites, the ISS, and can monitor MEO sat passes. We're preparing to make Doppler measurements of the S-band carrier from NASA’s Orion spacecraft during the upcoming Artemis II mission.
The telescope is optimized to observe the 21 cm hydrogen line (~1.42 GHz), a key probe of the structure and dynamics of galaxies, nebulae, supernova remnants, and other astronomical objects.
Our workshop on the observing deck of SBO.
A homebrew-modded feed centered on the 21cm hydrogen line (1.42GHz) with a notch filter for use with our 3m dish.
Our 3m dish weighs less than 100lbs, allowing for commercial rotors, such as the ones ham radio operators use for their giant HF yagis to move it.
We also operate a small VLF loop antenna that can detect whistlers from lightning and monitors sudden ionospheric disturbances from solar flares using signals from U.S. Navy submarine communication transmitters from 10-28kHz.
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