From Sean for some context on the big radome:
Dear Junior Lab folks, and friends,
Those of you who’ve been around the lab for a while know that we’ve had an association since 2018 with the rehabilitation of the original Doppler radar system on the roof of Bldg 54 (aka “the Big Radome”, or “the giant golf ball on the Green Building”) into a modernized instrument for radio astronomy, satellite communication, amateur radio, and related activities; an effort spearheaded by MIT’s student Radio Society. It had appeared to be a near-certainty that the facility would be lost to the demolition phase of the EAPS Dept’s ongoing Bldg 54 renovations in 2020, but with support from many directions, including key contributions from several of you here, the Big Radome was saved, and indeed major repairs to its physical structure — including a complete replacement of the radome itself — have been rolled into the overall renovation coordination.
So, I was very excited to hear yesterday that “the big day” is finally scheduled: the radome is planned to be crane-lifted to the ground on October 14 and re-raised to the highest spot in Cambridge on November 3. We could very realistically be back online for Spring 2023, and almost certainly for 8.14 projects in the second half of the semester. So exciting! In the linked construction coordination plan below, the Gantt chart on page 24 and the rigging drawings starting on page 27 give me a particular thrill.
Into the future, the expectation is that radome will be managed by an oversight committee including Physics Dept representation, ensuring equitable use of dish time between education and research applications, with a priority for student use, specifically including Junior Lab’s radio astronomy efforts.
Cheers!
++Sean