Russia,
Uzbekistan Resume Construction
of Radio Astronomy Observatory
MOSCOW
(RIA Novosti, by Yuri Zaitsev, Expert, the Institute of Space
Research) – Scientists long ago learned to integrate ground-based
radio telescopes into so-called interferometers, whose resolution
is equivalent to that of a radio telescope with the antenna diameter
equal to the distance between telescopes. The bigger the distance
between telescopes (the system’s base), the higher its resolution.
The method was first suggested and substantiated by scientists
of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in the 1960s.
But the base
of interferometers on the earth is limited to the size of the
planet (the maximum possible size equals the equator). Accordingly,
in the late 1970s the academic Institute of Space Research suggested
creating a ground/space radio interferometric system for astrophysical
studies with a super-high resolution: a spacecraft with a radio
telescope orbiting the earth works in conjunction with ground-based
telescopes.
The first
step towards this goal was made in 1979, when a space telescope
with a 10m antenna was erected on the Salyut-6 space station.
The station was placed in a relatively low orbit, which did not
help increase the base, so the experiment was held to improve
observation methods.
At the same
time, scientists prepared for the RadioAstron project, which entailed
placing a radio telescope nearly 400,000km in space that would
expand the base of the interferometric system to hundreds of thousands
of kilometers. Such a telescope would see in detail the smallest
radio sources in the universe, in particular, quasars, the active
galactics nuclei, and space around black holes, helping scientists
to understand many cosmological events that cannot be explained
now, and to try to detect signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
The ground-turning
ceremony for the project was held at the Sufa Plateau in Uzbekistan.
A radio astronomical observatory, its main instrument being the
70m radio telescope working jointly with a space-based counterpart,
was to be built in a picturesque region of the republic at the
height of over 2,000m above sea level.
Twenty years
have passed since then. The Soviet Union crumbled, allocations
to space research were cut, and the Sufa project was mothballed.
The Federal
space program of Russia defines the RadioAstron project as a priority,
and work under it is proceeding at full speed. The spacecraft
bearing the radio telescope is to be orbited in 2006. Thank God,
there are people in Russia and Uzbekistan who are convinced that
the construction of the ground-based counterpart must be completed,
too. Though nearly all major ground-based radio astronomic observatories
of the US, Germany, Australia and other countries will work jointly
with the Russian space-based radio telescope, the telescope in
Uzbekistan is located so cleverly that it will make a substantial
contribution to observations.
Following
bilateral meetings at the government level and meetings of the
joint inter-governmental commission, the RT-70 project was given
a lease on life in 2000. "We hope it will not stop now,"
said Shukhrat Egamberdiyev, director of the Center of Space Research
of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences and the Uzbek project director.
In the past
three years, scientists, designers and engineers from Russia,
which is the main designer and financier of the project, have
thoroughly inspected the project’s documents. "It is good
that the observatory has not been built," said Nikolai Artemenko,
department head at the AstroSpace Center of the academic Physics
Institute. "Its fate after the disintegration of the Soviet
Union would have been dramatic. Political, economic, social and
research-technical conditions have changed drastically. In the
past, the complex was to have been a fully autonomous system with
a staff of over 200 scientists and maintenance personnel. It has
become obvious now that work at the telescope should be divided
into shifts, with 10-12 scientists and a maintenance staff of
about 20."
The scientific
concept of the observatory has been overhauled too. In the past,
observations were to be held in a broad range of bands, while
now the scientists plan to study only the most information-rich
and the least studied millimeter band. While new state borders
were marked and Soviet property was divided in the former Soviet
Union, the US has commissioned a 100m radio telescope. It will
be extremely difficult for the 70m telescope, even if located
in the nearly ideal conditions of Sufa, to rival the US counterpart.
But in the millimeter band it will be not only the largest but
also the most precise in the world. This called for changing the
architectural design, though attempts are being made to use as
much of what has been built as possible, such as the 1,800 antenna
panels that have been delivered to Sufa.
The design
of the project, even though it is more than 20 years old, strikes
one as highly inordinate: it looks like the future settlements
on the Moon or Mars. But systems must be duplicated there to increase
reliability, which we do not need on the earth. The modern research
instruments, computer equipment and communications systems have
become sufficiently reliable thanks to the use of the latest technologies.
As a result of the review, spending on the construction has been
slashed from $26 to $19 million.
"Not
only scientists in Uzbekistan and Russia need the observatory
in Sufa," said the learned secretary of the Uzbek Academy
of Sciences. "Such projects attract specialists from all
over the world, which is why the observatory has the status of
an international project. And its construction amounts to a direct
Russian investment in Uzbekistan and its science."