Rare Look at 140-foot Maintenance
When the 200-foot tall 140-foot dish telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia needs feed maintenance, operators drive its dish to within four feet of the ground. An engineering tower is winched up until the apex of the telescope is nestled inside. Then, in a protected space, the sensitive equipment can be removed, replaced, and finely adjusted. These days, the 140-foot (43-meter) has not been using a receiver at its apex. Instead, a sophisticated second reflector sits here to bounce waves to receivers nestled in the hole in the center of the dish.
Credit: T. Burchell, NRAO/AUI/NSF
