NRAO Radio Telescope
Location: Green Bank, WV Contract Value:
After a freak occurrence brought down the 30-year-old original telescope in 1988, a US $75 million replacement was designed, which called for a larger 100-metre diameter, fully steerable radio telescope. Weighing 6800 tonnes travelling on a 60-metre diameter track, it is the world’s largest. To build this gigantic structure, a 450-tonne capacity stiffleg derrick was selected, which had a 76-metre-long boom and stood on top of a 60-metre tower. Somerset was hired by the contractor to develop the erection scheme for the derrick together with the rigging and lift layouts for the modules of the telescope. As the existing derrick tower was designed for a 360-tonne model, we checked the stresses on the tower and engineered reinforcing to increase capacity, designed new tiedowns and foundations and the new members to fit the larger 450-tonne derrick footprint.
