Future of Earth’s Defense is Ground-based Planetary Radar

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Green Bank Telescope will be largest fully steerable antenna in the world capable of transmitting radar signals for research

A new radar system being developed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory will transmit powerful radar signals from the Green Bank Telescope (top right panel) and, in this illustration, bounce those signals off the Moon (middle right). The reflected signal can be received by antennas of the Very Long Baseline Array, in various locations across the U.S., Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands (bottom right). The combination of antennas acts as a giant, high-resolution radar imaging system.
Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF.
 

Powerful radar systems have played a major role in the study of planets, moons, asteroids, and other objects in our Solar System for several decades, and now have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense – “providing protection to the nations of the world from devastating asteroid and comet impacts,” according to the newly released Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) are developing new capabilities for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) that will make them key instruments for meeting this need.

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Alyssa Goodman, Drake Lecture Award Winner

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Award honoring legacy of Frank Drake returns April 23rd to Green Bank Observatory

Alyssa Goodman receives the Drake Lecture Award from GBO Director Jim Jackson. The base of the award was crafted in the GBO machine shop, and the ceramic jug was made by local West Virginia artist Alison Flegel.

Watch a recording of this lecture here.

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Drake Lecture: Alyssa Goodman

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Saturday April 23rd, 7pm

Dr. Alyssa Goodman is a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and a Research Associate at Smithsonian Institution. She will share her amazing experience as an astronomer and about data visualization as the next frontier in astronomy and astrophysics. 

The Drake Lecture honors the legacy of Frank Drake, who created his famous equation and launched the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence as a scientist in the early days of the Green Bank Observatory.

This free public lecture will be held in the Green Bank Science Center auditorium at 7:00 pm on Saturday, April 23. Free tickets must be registered for in advance; walk-ins cannot be admitted.

This lecture was recorded, and is available on YouTube!

2022 Drake Lecture Award (2020) Alyssa Goodman

Green Bank hosts new telescope for CHIME

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CHIME Outrigger telescopes boost search for fast radio bursts

CHIME’s new siblings will pinpoint bursts detected by Canada’s world-renowned telescope

The new CHIME outrigger at Green Bank is currently Foundations for the CHIME outrigger telescope under construction at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Photo credit: National Science Foundation/Green Bank Observatory.

In the quest to identify the origins of one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries – fast radio bursts (FRBs) – Canada’s world-renowned telescope, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), is getting backup.

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GBT & FAST reveal new origins of bright radio flashes in the Universe

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Image credit NAOC, ScienceApe, CAS

Scientists using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) have teamed up to shed light on the origin of the thousands of mysterious fast radio bursts that hit the Earth each day from locations far beyond the Milky Way.

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