National Space Centre is inviting proposals to re-purpose the 32m C Band Antenna at Elfordstown.

 

OUTLINE
  • This is the largest antenna in the country and would cost in excess of €10m to built today.
  • It was originally constructed in 1984 to take transatlantic telephone traffic from Europe to the US.
  • The big dish was retired from use in the mid 1990’s when the underground transatlantic cables were laid.
  • While no longer of mainstream commercial interest, these dishes are extremely powerful research tools.
  • Globally several have been repurposed and now serve as radio telescopes in either a standalone capacity or as part of large telescope arrays and are put to uses such as exploring celestial objects e.g. galaxies and interstellar clouds; tracking of space debris; extra terrestrial intelligence searching; outreach and education.
 PROPOSALS
  • Proposals from all potential partners will be considered, whether commercial, research or outreach.
  • All partnership structures will be given consideration.
  • Local, national and international participants are welcome.
PROCESS
  • Interested participants are invited to submit a very short project outline online below.
  • We will provide further technical details as required.
  • The call will remain open for just over 3 months, closing 30 November 2016.
  • When the call closes, full discussion with feasible projects will commence.

This call is now closed.