Common menu bar links
Related Information
Institutes & Programs
Areas of Research
Communities
Careers
News
Events
Enquiries: NRC-HIA
Phone: 250-363-0001
Fax: 250-363-0045
Email: HIA-WWW@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
5071 West Saanich Road
Victoria,
British Columbia,
V9E 2E7
Canada
SKA [CART] Composite Applications for Radio Telescopes
Future radio-telescope projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will require large collecting areas at costs substantially below those achieved with techniques in common use at present. The Composite Applications for Radio Telescopes (CART) project at DRAO is an ongoing effort to investigate the potential application of composite materials to this problem.
Composite materials offer a range of benefits over traditional metal structures in the construction of large (> 10 m diameter) reflectors, allowing lighter, stiffer structures that are thermal stable, and yielding high performance over wide operating temperature ranges.
Project Overview
The CART team constructed and tested its first single-piece 10-m diameter prototype reflector in 2007. The result was very successful, achieving a 1 mm surface rms with no additional assembly or adjustment required. Tests indicate that the structure is very stiff. A second prototype incorporating improvements in performance and manufacturability will be made in the spring of 2008.
