The newest addition to the MXL facilities, the Peach Mountain Observatory Dish, was officially turned over to the Aerospace and Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Science (AOSS) department earlier this month.
According to a recent College of Engineering profile of the Dish, “The Peach Mountain Observatory is about half an hour from campus, just south of Portage Lake. The radio telescope there was once the second largest steerable radio telescope in the world and made key astronomical discoveries in the mid-1960s. Yet even in its old age, the telescope promises a huge improvement compared to the amateur radio antennas that the aerospace engineers have been using to receive communications from their satellites.”
The article goes on to explain the various benefits that the Dish will provide to research and development efforts at MXL. The Dish will allow students and faculty to hear the faint signals from MXL satellite missions, with clarity far superior to any amateur radio antenna. Other uses for the Dish include providing a dark, dedicated location for night time atmospheric measurements and experiments
Read the entire article, Michigan Engineering acquires Peach Mountain Observatory, here.