NRAO, Green Bank Observatory, and Raytheon are redeploying the refurbished low-power (700 W at 13.9 GHz), prototype radar transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). An observing campaign will test new timing capabilities and software upgrades as well as exercise the end-to-end concept of operations for a radar system using the GBT and the Very Long Baseline Array.

The ngRADAR Science Advisory Council, or SAC, was convened for the first time following our external concept design review. The SAC, chaired by Paul Abell of NASA Johnson Space Center, will help the ngRADAR team collect input from the science community on the direction and capabilities of the ngRADAR design.

The ngRADAR project passed its external concept design review. The panel, made up of esteemed colleagues from a range of institutions, laboratories, and universities provided the ngRADAR team with valuable feedback on the state and direction of the project.

The ngRADAR project submitted its annual report for the second year of funding from the NSF MSRI-1 program.

The NSF approved a supplemental award to the MSRI-1 grant held by the ngRADAR project to continue concept design work with our partners at Raytheon.

The ngRADAR project passed its internal concept design review. The panel, made up of esteemed colleagues from within NRAO and Green Bank Observatory provided the ngRADAR team with valuable feedback on the state and direction of the project.

The ngRADAR project requests participation from the science and technical radar community via membership on the ngRADAR Science Advisory Council (SAC).

NRAO, Green Bank Observatory, and Raytheon submitted a request for supplemental funding to the NSF MSRI-1 award held by the ngRADAR project to continue concept design work.

The ngRADAR project submitted its annual report for the first year of funding from the NSF MSRI-1 program. Positive review of the annual report released funding for the second year of the award.

NRAO, Green Bank Observatory (GBO), and Raytheon kicked off activities for the ngRADAR concept design funded through an NSF’s Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (MSRI-1) award at a workshop held at GBO from November 2-4, 2020.

NSF approved the ngRADAR project's proposal to the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (MSRI-1) program, awarding funding over two years to develop the concept design for a high-power, high-frequency radar system using the Green Bank Telescope and the Very Long Baseline Array.

NRAO, Green Bank Observatory, and Raytheon submitted a proposal to the NSF Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (MSRI-1) program to fund the concept design of a high-power, high-frequency radar transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope with reception of echoes by the Very Long Baseline Array. The concept would add new radar capabilities to NSF facilities.

The second science deployment of the prototype radar transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) lasted from March 15-21, 2021, again concentrating on commissioning the instrument and imaging of the Moon as a nearby, bright target of interest. This scheduling of this observing campaign also allowed for the detection of near-Earth asteroid (231937) 2001 FO32, another first for the GBT, as the asteroid made a close flyby of Earth, about 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) away or just over five times farther away than the Moon.

The first science deployment of the prototype radar transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope lasted from November 10-12, 2020, concentrating on the commissioning the instrument and imaging of the Moon as a nearby, bright target of interest.

NRAO, GBO, and external partner Raytheon deployed a low-power, Ku-band (700 W at 13.9 GHz) transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope. Commissioning and first light occurred in early November 2020, marking the first radar transmissions made from the GBT.

Consideration for a transmitter on the Green Bank Telescope gained traction around 2015 at a workshop on the Future of Planetary Radio Astronomy with Single-Dish Telescopes held at Green Bank Observatory.