There are three

radio telescopes A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

designated RT-70, all in countries that were once part of the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, all with similar specifications: 70m dishes and an operating range of 5–300 GHz. They are a part of the former Soviet Deep Space Network, now operated by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The Yevpatoria facility has also been used as a radar telescope in observations of

space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...

and

asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

. With their 70m antenna diameter, they are among the largest radio telescopes in the world. They are: * the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope at the former soviet Center for Deep Space Communications or West Center for Deep Space Communications,

Yevpatoria Yevpatoria (; ; ; ) is a city in western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrative center of Yevpatoria Municipality, one of the districts (''raions'') into which Crimea is divided. It had a population of His ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. * the Galenki RT-70 radio telescope at the East Center for Deep Space Communications, Galenki (

Ussuriysk Ussuriysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the valley of the Razdolnaya River. The city is north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia bo ...

. * the Suffa RT-70 radio telescope at the Suffa Radio Observatory on the Suffa plateau,

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. Never completed. In 2008, RT-70 was used to beam 501 messages at the

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

Gliese 581c, in hopes of making contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The messages should arrive in 2029.

References

External links

Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope
(in Russian)
Suffa RT-70 radio telescope
(in Russian)
Suffa Radio Observatory in Uzbekistan: progress and radio-seeing research plans

(mentions Galenki telescope) * Don P. Mitchell

Radio telescopes Soviet inventions {{SIA

See also

References

External links