Help save the Stanford dish antennas for citizen science

MAKE ^ | 03/06/06

[KevinDavis]

Five 60-foot dish antennas at Stanford, known as the Bracewell Observatory, are about to be demolished by the school. Bob Lash organized the Friends of the Bracewell Observatory Association to help rescue the dishes and he's done all that he can do to persuade Stanford to stop the demolition. Yet it could happen any day, at the whim of the Dean of Engineering for Stanford, Jim Plummer. Stanford has obtained the demolition permit from Santa Clara County Commissioners.

The Bracewell Observatory is named for Professor Ronald Bracewell, a father of radio astronomy, who created this site and built the dishes that have been used to monitor sunspot activity and measure the speed and direction of our solar system. Since federal support for the Observatory was cut-off and redirected to other sites, the dishes have been idle. Now the brush growing up around them is considered a fire hazard and has served as an excuse to remove them. Bob Lash thinks they offer a wonderful opportunity for citizen science, a site that could be used by Stanford, high school students and the public in a variety of ways, including over the Internet.

[KevinDavis]

[xcamel]

[manwiththehands]

We tear down old buildings all the time. What's the difference tearing down an old radio array? It's not like there is nothing out there to replace them.

[vox humana]

Now the brush growing up around them is considered a fire hazard and has served as an excuse to remove them.

The stupidity of most university administrators boggles the mind. This moron wants to tear down six very expensive dish antennas because he can't figure out how to get rid of some brush? Pathetic!

[HolgerDansk]

Well, let's see here:

1. It's a Stanford facility on Stanford Land.
2. Somebody wants to turn a private facility into a facility for public use.

Sounds like Communism to me. Oddly enough, these kinds of grabs happen to Stanford all the time; the worst of which is now "Palo Alto Foothills Park", but I digress.

Frankly, I smell Blue Smoke. I spent some time working for Ron Bracewell in the early 90s, and went to visit Heliopolis (Site 515) with him once. All of the mechanisms were rusted solid. The dishes themselves were frozen and rusting. And this was back 15 years ago. My suspicion is that it would cost more to restore the facility than it would to build a new one.

And then there's the more practical consideration. The RF noise floor is much, much higher here than it was 40 years ago when Heliopolis was constructed. Nowadays you'd much rather be in Northern California or Nevada, up in the Suprise Valley or some other RF Quiet place.

[beezdotcom]

Got a read on this?

[supercat]

It's a Stanford facility on Stanford Land. Somebody wants to turn a private facility into a facility for public use.

It would seem to me that the proper thing to do would be to try to interest some of the people who donate money to the college. If they deem destruction of the dishes to be financially imprudent, they might let the college know that demolition might lead to reduced donations.

It may be that the dishes have some historical significance; in such case, some donors might want to have some sort of museum or something built. But it should be up to the people funding the university to decide how their money is spent.

[VoiceOfBruck]

I'll take one. I hope Mrs. Bruck doesn't mind!

[beezdotcom]

It may be that the dishes have some historical significance; in such case, some donors might want to have some sort of museum or something built. But it should be up to the people funding the university to decide how their money is spent.

Quickest way to save these dishes is to allege that spotted owls nest there...