by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
UNM is helping New Mexico become a hub for space research.
The federal government allocated $3.5 million to UNM for the development of the Long Wavelength Array, an arrangement of radio satellites that will help astronomers study the evolution of the universe and the Earth's ionosphere. The ionosphere is a region of the atmosphere that affects low-frequency radio waves.
The new radio satellites cannot be found anywhere else in the world, said Terry Yates, vice president for Research and Economic Development at UNM.
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"This very special new instrument will clearly center New Mexico in the universe for radio astronomy," he said at a press conference Friday.
Radio telescopes create images of astronomical objects in outer space by detecting radio waves emitted by the objects, according to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Web site. Radio telescopes have been used to measure surface temperatures of all the planets in our solar system, according to the site.
The Long Wavelength Array will be built in cooperation with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and will be adjacent to the Very Large Array, which is just west of Socorro, N.M., on the plains of San Augustin. The array of satellites will span about 250 miles and will have 60 stations containing 256 antennas each.
Rep. Heather Wilson secured money for the project along with other New Mexico representatives. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill, which was part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for 2006.
According to the Naval Research Web site, the project is scheduled to begin in 2008.
Wilson was at UNM on Friday to congratulate astronomers on the victory.
"This means people at UNM will have a tremendous new tool for research," Wilson said.
Wilson said as far as she knows, New Mexico is the only state to have such technology.
"This is going to put New Mexico very much in the forefront of astrophysics," she said.
Richard Bevilacqua, acting superintendent of Remote Sensing Division for Naval Research, said the ionosphere has always been a problem for the U.S. Navy, because the ionosphere limits low-frequency radio waves. He said the new array will be able to penetrate the ionosphere and produce detailed images of the universe.
"The array will provide the needs to pass the ionosphere and will provide unprecedented accuracy," he said. "The data will also allow us to examine the ionosphere, something that has been very destructive for modern-day life."
Wilson also announced at the press conference that she secured $2.5 million for the U.S. Air Force for research, development and testing of space technology.
Wilson said the funding will help the Air Force control large structures in space such as satellites.
