Scientific Radio & Optical
Telescopes
Proven…Reliable….Precise…
• Supplier of choice for over
40 years for the design,
manufacture, and installation
of major scientific telescopes
worldwide
• Highly precise to meet the most
exacting specifications
• Designed to meet the most
demanding tolerances
• Pre-assembly reduces cost, time
and field integration risks
Scientific Radio & Optical Telescopes
For over 40 years General Dynamics SATCOM
Technologies has designed, manufactured
and installed over fifty major optical and radio
telescopes for the scientific community worldwide.
Our proven expertise in large, high performance
structures and control systems allows us to build
large telescopes that require the most exacting
specifications and highest precision assembly, in
some cases up to one thousandth of an inch. Our
ability to pre-assemble many of the components of
these structures allows us to significantly reduce
integration time in the field, which significantly
reduces our customers’ risks and costs.
The Green Bank Telescope
The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is
the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope,
and at 450 feet tall (60% taller than the Statue of
Liberty) and 16 million pounds it is the world’s
largest moveable land object. The GBT is part of
the national Radio Astronomy Observatory site at
Green Bank, West Virginia.
SATCOM Technologies has installed more than
50 major optical and radio telescopes worldwide
ranging in antenna size from three meters in
diameter, to mammoth structures with 8,000
square meter surfaces and weighting over
7,000 metric tons. As an industry leader our
precision-built telescopes and command and
control systems are helping scientists unravel the
mysteries of the universe from every continent.
Our capabilities include:
• Structural design and analysis
• Control system design and analysis
• Systems engineering
• Fabrication
• Logistics
• Integration, testing and installation
• Design and fabrication of mirror cells and
support systems
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA)
The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter
array (ALMA) observatory in the Chilean Andes is
supported by twenty five 12-meter (40 ft) antennas
built by SATCOM Technologies. The 115-ton, highly
specialized radio-telescope antennas are operating
16,400 feet above sea level to help astronomers
study the origins of galaxies, stars, and planets.
The computerized control
techniques and metrology
instruments employed ensure
that each project meets the
most demanding tolerances
ALMA Antenna Array
Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT)
The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.3-meter
(14 ft) aperture telescope funded by the Lowell
Observatory and The Discovery Channel. At 4.3-meters,
the DCT is the fifth largest optical telescope in the
continental United States. The DCT is investigating a
wide and evolving range of research topics including
a survey of the composition of Kuiper Belt objects
orbiting the sun beyond Neptune; studies of the
physical properties of comets, investigations of the
evolution and structure of small galaxies and studies of
the masses of stars
Discovery Channel Telescope
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for
Astronomy (VISTA)
The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for
Astronomy (VISTA) is a wide-field reflecting telescope
with a 4.1-meter (13 ft) mirror, located at the Paranal
Observatory in Chile. It is operated by the European
Southern Observatory and started science operations
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA)
Photo courtesy of ESO
Many of today’s scientific structures
require the highest precision in
assembly - sometimes up to onethousandth of an inch
in December 2009. VISTA is a survey telescope working
at infrared wavelengths, and is by far the largest
telescope in the world dedicated to surveying the
sky at near-infrared wavelengths. VISTA observations
support research in many astronomical areas. The 4.1
meter aperture telescope Mount, M1 Mirror Cell, and
M1 Support Actuator system were awarded to General
Dynamics SATCOM Technologies in 2004 by the UK
Royal Observatory.
Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR)
Telescope
The Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope
is a modern 4.1-meter (13 ft) aperture optical and nearinfrared telescope located on Cerro Pachón, Chile. For
over 10 years the telescope has provided excellent
image quality to scientists through the use of multiple
instruments that are available on standby, mounted
at unusually high weight-capacity Nasmyth foci and
two lower capacity bent-Cassegrain foci. The SOAR
Telescope Mount was awarded to General Dynamics
SATCOM Technologies by the National Optical
Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, AZ, and AURA.
SATCOM Technologies provided the telescope mount,
drive system, Nasmyth instrument drives and cages,
and control and pointing systems. The mount met
technical requirements to provide an accurate azimuth
and elevation position accuracy of .01 arc sec and a
tracking jitter for azimuth and elevation less than .06 arc
sec.
Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope
in the southern hemisphere and represents the
first significant installation of the Square Kilometer
Array (SKA) that is scheduled for completion in 2024.
SATCOM Technologies is scheduled to provide 64
radio telescope antennas, the first of which was built
in 2014. Each antenna’s reflector structure is specially
designed to retain its focus across temperatures that
vary from -10°C to +50°C, allowing the structure to
expand and contract yet still keep its optical shape.
General Dynamics is one of very few companies in
the world with the expertise to deliver this technical
capability.
Deep Space network (DSN)
Deep Space Network (DSN)
SATCOM Technologies in collaboration with the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has designed and built
nine 34-meter (111 ft) antennas for NASA’s Deep
Space Network (DSN), and upgraded 64-meter (210
ft) and 70-meter (230 ft) antennas originally built
in the 1960s.The antennas, located near Canberra,
Australia, use a new servo-control system to
more accurately position and point each antenna,
improving communication and tracking of space
probes on Mars and other spacecraft travelling
beyond our galaxy. The largest and most sensitive
scientific communications system in the world, the
DSN helps scientists explore the universe.
The Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope
(CCAT)
The Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT)
is a 25-meter (82 ft) telescope that is planned to be
positioned at an altitude of 5,612 meters (18,412 ft), on
Cerro Chajnantor of the volcanic Purico Complex, in
the Atacama Desert in the northern part of Chile. The
planned site would make it the highest permanent,
ground-based telescopes in the world.The CCAT
will be used to divulge the cosmic origins of stars,
planets, and galaxies with its submillimeter cameras
and spectrometers. Its 25 meter diameter and 20
arc minutes field of view will be optimized for wide
field submillimeter imaging and survey, and with its
high sensitivity continuum cameras, CAT will have
a survey speed many times higher than any other
facility. Once completed, CCAT will be the largest and
most sensitive facility of its class.
MeerKat Radio Telescope Array
MeerKAT Radio Telescope Array
The MeerKAT Radio Telescope array, located in
South Africa’s Karoo region, is designed to detect
and map radio-frequency signals coming from the
farthest reaches of the universe. The MeerKAT array
will be the largest and most sensitive radio telescope
Cerro Atacama Telescope Concept
Leading Innovation with Precision Design
Technological progress and innovation is
measured by the realization of various design
concepts, use of modern materials as carbon fibre
reinforced composites and precisely machined
aluminum panels. Additional metrology systems
are implemented into the antennas to improve
overall pointing/tracking performance.
The achieved surface and pointing accuracies
demonstrate SATCOM Technologies in-house
capabilities in the field of structures, mechanics,
servo systems and alignment techniques, which
enable us to deliver state-of-the-art telescopes.
Modern Radio Astronomy applications push
our own limits continuously forward towards
new boundaries, which are currently beyond the
terahertz range.
SATCOM Technologies has installed three 35-Meter
(114 ft) antennas for the European Space Agency
(ESA) used for various international Deep Space
Missions.
APEX, the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
telescope located on the high altitude side of Llano
Chajnantor allows scientists to study cold dust and gas
in our own Milky Way and other distant galaxies.
Modern Deep space missions require two way
data transmission and high data rates. Due to
the extremely large distances and the demand
for high data rates, Deep Space Ground Stations
require a very high transmit power and cryogenic
cooled LNA Systems. In addition, Deep Space
Organizations demand very long lasting, large
and precise antennas with high availability and
maintainability. Our expertise has enabled us
to design and manufacture the most precise
antennas with pointing errors of less than a few
milli degrees.
SATCOM Technologies
For more information contact:
SATCOM Technologies
[email protected]
www.gdsatcom.com
1-770-497-8800
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