RT-70
title: "RT-70" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["radio-telescopes", "soviet-inventions"] topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT-70" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/70-м_антенна_П-2500_(РТ-70).jpg" caption="70-m aerial P-2500 (RT-70 radio telescope) in [[Yevpatoria]]."] ::
There are three radio telescopes designated RT-70, all in countries that were once part of the former Soviet Union, all with similar specifications: 70m dishes and an operating range of 5–300 GHz. They are a part of the former Soviet Deep Space Network, now operated by Russia. The Yevpatoria facility has also been used as a radar telescope in observations of space debris and asteroids.
With their 70m antenna diameter, they are among the largest radio telescopes in the world.
They are:
- the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope at the former soviet Center for Deep Space Communications or West Center for Deep Space Communications, Yevpatoria, Crimea, Ukraine.
- the Galenki RT-70 radio telescope at the East Center for Deep Space Communications, Galenki (Ussuriysk), Russia.
- the Suffa RT-70 radio telescope at the Suffa Radio Observatory on the Suffa plateau, Uzbekistan. Never completed.
In 2008, RT-70 was used to beam 501 messages at the exoplanet Gliese 581c, in hopes of making contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The messages should arrive in 2029.
References
References
- Moore, Matthew. (9 October 2008). "Messages from Earth sent to distant planet by Bebo". .telegraph.co.uk.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::