Gary Newport

Home/Talks/05

Space science

A Radio Telescope on the School Field

How a college goes from an idea to a dish that produces data somebody else would want.

Running time
40 minutes
Audience
Educators, trustees, governors, public
Format
Talk with questions
Remote
Yes

Every school that wants a serious instrument runs into the same five problems in the same order: the money, the site, the interference, the governance, and the awkward question of who owns the results.

This is a practical account of working through them — what a site survey actually involves, what the interference floor near a populated coastline looks like, and how to write a capital bid that survives contact with a finance committee.

It is aimed at the people who have to approve these things as much as the people who want to build them.

What people leave with

  • A realistic cost and timeline for a research-grade school instrument
  • What a site survey and interference assessment involve
  • How to structure ownership of student-generated data before it becomes a problem

What the room needs

  • Projector or large screen
  • Audio for recorded signals
  • Ten minutes for questions

Where it sits

This talk is ringed. The others are links.