Next generation: ‘Advancing our understanding of the universe’

International scientific colleagues, universities, state and local representatives gathered on Friday afternoon to witness the handover ceremony for the prototype of the Next Generation antennae (ngVLA) at the Very Large Array.

According to the National Radio Astronomy Organization (NRAO) the ngVLA is expected to revolutionize astrophysics and modern astronomy by enhancing observation capabilities. It will provide ultra-sensitive imaging of thermal emissions with milliarcsecond resolution and unprecedented broadband imaging and polarimetry of non-thermal emissions, opening new avenues for exploring the universe.

“It advances the state of these sorts of facilities by some decades, and it’s already been looked at by other projects, scientific and commercial, around the world. Of course, we at the NSF (National Science Foundation) are keenly interested in the potential that this design has and can play in its role of advancing our understanding of the universe,” Tony Beasley, director of NRAO, said.

Beasely said he looked forward to continued partnerships with the prototype designer, Mtex Antenna Technology, the state of New Mexico, the Republic of Mexico and Germany, and many others involved.

“So, we’re talking about the beautiful 27 antennas you see in the VLA, they’re being replaced by 192 of those (ngVLA) antennas, and that’s the kind of step forward that we need in terms of engineering and computing and astronomy to really explore the universe at greater length,” Beasley said.“It starts with a single step, and that single step is us receiving this first antenna to begin scientific testing.”

He said the ngVLA prototype antenna stands 18 meters tall and is constructed from 130 tons of steel and aluminum. Each foundation consists of over 430 tons of concrete, and each antenna is capable of generating 1.5 terabytes of data per second.

“The supercomputer required to process the ngVLA data will be one of the 20th largest in the world, and it will be sitting in a building on this property,” Beasley said.

During the ceremony, Lutz Stenvers, CEO of Mtex Antenna Technology, gave Beasley a key to the ngVLA. He said his company felt lucky to have the opportunity to participate in the design and later develop the prototype.

“For the Mtex team, this is a very emotional day because almost a year ago, my father died, and he was the founder of Mtex; he was a designer for telescopes around the world,” Stenvers said, “I can say this is his masterpiece.”

In addition to the key, he gave Beasley a framed sketch of the prototype that his father had drawn.

“This is a great day because what we’re doing today is we have a brand new, very, very modern antenna that has been built by the Mtex company, and we are going to officially hand it to NRAO,” Patricia “Trish” Henning associate director for New Mexico operations at the NRAO.

She said they will spend much of the coming year testing the ngVLA to make sure it meets specifications and will also continue to work on the design for the whole new array.

She explained that the new design features an unblocked aperture, and although it is slightly smaller than the VLA, it is more efficient and captures cleaner data. The new prototype will go up to 116 gigahertz compared to the 50 gigahertz of the VLA.

“What happens with the VLA is you get the information from the source you’re interested in, the star, the galaxy, or planet but you get all kinds of stray human-made radiation, bouncing in off those feed legs, and just kind of polluting your signal a little,” Henning said.

She said this project has been a long time coming.

“There was a big milestone back in 2020, when we proposed it to what’s called the Decadal Survey of Astronomy, and it was endorsed. That means the U.S. community says, ‘ Hey, this is an important step forward for astronomy. We need to do this.’” Henning said.

Henning said several years ago, they put out a request for proposals for an antenna.

“We gave instructions about what we wanted it to do and some specifications, and then they wrote a proposal to meet our specifications,” Henning said. “It was delivered in pieces, and it’s been put together almost like a like a jigsaw puzzle.”

She expects the project, in the long term, to bring jobs to Socorro County.

“We’re going to go from a little more than 200 employees in New Mexico to 400 that we will need. It’s not just PhD, astronomers, we’ll need electricians, mechanics, engineers and data scientists,” Henning said.

The ngVLA core will be located near the existing Very Large Array (VLA) on the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico, with additional mid-baseline stations across New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. Long baseline array stations will be in Washington, West Virginia, California, Iowa, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

According to NRAO website, the ngVLA project has received ongoing support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for defining its science case and reference design. The NSF allocated $23 million for the design and production of a prototype antenna, with a contract signed with Mtex antenna technology in May 2021.

The U.S. is expected to be the majority partner for ngVLA, with contributions from international partners, including the National Research Council Canada and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Astronomy and Astrophysics of Taiwan.