INSTITUTIONAL NEWS
A radio telescope will be installed in the province of San Juan
CONICET signed an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, authorities from the province and the local University. The project will be funded by the Ministry of Science of Argentina.
The president of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Dr. Roberto Salvarezza, signed an agreement with the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Science (NAOC), the Secretario de Estado de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación of the province, Eng. Tulio Del Bono and the Head of the Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Dr. Oscar Nasisi, to install an Argentine-Chinese Radio Telescope (CART in Spanish) at the “El Leoncito” National Park, located in Calingasta, San Juan. The project will be funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation.
“This agreement is very significant for the whole scientific community who study astronomy in the country. This device has a 40 meter diameter antenna that will enable the interaction with other radio telescopes that belong to other projects, such as the LLAMA”, Dr. Salvarezza said.
Nasisi, Head of the University, stated “this is an old dream we had. For more than twenty years we have developed a link with the National Academy of China and with the radio astronomy community, so it is very important for us to have this agreement which has quality and fundamental transcendence”.
For his part, Del Bono said that the Radio telescope “is going to strengthen the scientific and technological production of the province, and it will offer the possibility of having important scientists of the world working for the province. In fact, it will enhance our global relevance regarding radio astronomy.”
Likewise, he stated that “this project strengthens the scientific and cultural relations between Argentina and China.”
Signed at the rector’s office of the University, this agreement establishes that the CART is going to conduct studies on geodesy and geo-referencing to improve the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) as well as other similar antennas located throughout the world. Furthermore, the CART will be used for additional and/or simultaneous astrophysical projects with LLAMA facilities, thus promoting scientific and technical link between the two projects.
The agreement was atended by: Alejandra Otazú, Associate Dean at the Facultad de Cs. Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Dr. Jorge Castro, research secretary of the Facutly; Dr. Ricardo Podestá, researcher at the Observatorio Astronómico Feliz Aguilar (OAFA); and Marcelo Segura, coordinator of the Project.