A new radio telescope on the top of Germany’s Zugspitze mountain will help unravel the secrets of the universe. The project is led by the Chair for Astronomy at the University of Würzburg.
Thorsten Glauber, State Minister in the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection, spoke of a “new chapter in space research”. And of a further step “to consolidate Bavaria’s place in the premier league of research”. What made the minister so enthusiastic is a state-of-the-art radio telescope that shall soon be built on the Zugspitze mountain. This is where the state of Bavaria operates Germany’s highest environmental research station, the Schneefernerhaus (UFS).
The 4.5 million euro telescope will be both a prototype and a German branch of a worldwide network of radio telescopes. The new “Wetterstein Millimeter Telescope” (WMT) could thus contribute to unlocking the secrets of the universe. The project is led by the Chair of Astronomy at the University of Würzburg (JMU).
A network of more than 260 telescopes
“Currently, the US research institute NRAO is working on building a network of more than 260 interconnected individual telescopes – the so-called next-generation Very Large Array,” explains Matthias Kadler, Professor at the Chair for Astronomy at JMU and the driving force behind the new telescope on the Zugspitze. The astrophysicist explains that such an array of telescopes, distributed over many sites and a large area, enables images of the universe to be taken with high sensitivity and great resolution.
The North American Network, or ngVLA for short, will be the world’s dominant short-wavelength telescope when it is completed in the mid-2030s. The original plan was to distribute the individual telescopes from a spiral-shaped core in New Mexico over an area stretching from Hawaii to Puerto Rico and from Canada to Mexico.
However, combined with a number of strategically positioned radio telescopes at additional sites in Germany, this network could significantly increase its power. Matthias Kadler developed the concept together with leading experts in the field of radio astronomy and presented it recently. The WMT plays a central role in this plan as the first German ngVLA telescope.
An interdisciplinary research platform
“The Wetterstein Millimeter Telescope will be linked to the North American ngVLA and will be able to carry out a wide range of astrophysical research on its own. Among other things, it will study black holes and relativistic jets in active galaxies,” explains Kadler.
“In addition, the telescope represents an interdisciplinary research platform at the Environmental Research Station. It can be used by scientists from the fields of geodesy, space radar, atmospheric physics, testing of new high-frequency radio technology, receiver technologies, digitization and many more,” adds Tobias Ullmann, Professor at the Chair of Remote Sensing at the JMU and member of the UFS Science Team, which is responsible for the JMU’s scientific contributions and the scientific quality of the research at the Schneefernerhaus.
Satellite technology applications
Another particular strength of JMU lies in satellite technology. The WMT will also be used in this area. With SONATE-2, the university already operates a state-of-the-art satellite for testing AI technologies in space. Future developments in satellite communication in the high frequency range can play an important role in interplanetary small satellite missions of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Extraterrestrial Research (IFEX).
In addition, the Würzburg groups will jointly carry out a scientific program to preserve the astronomically usable frequency range of the radio sky. This is increasingly threatened by the rapid increase in commercial use, for example for satellite constellations, and can only be protected by interdisciplinary research.
Sustainability in research
And the telescope on the Zugspitze has another advantage: “We are creating a local infrastructure in Bavaria that will give Würzburg researchers access to scientific data of global significance in the context of international large-scale research infrastructures, without making transcontinental travel necessary,” says Karl Mannheim, holder of the Chair for Astronomy at the JMU. The project is thus an important building block in the long-standing efforts of the JMU and the Chair of Astronomy to achieve more sustainability in research.
Global visibility
After its completion, it will be an immediately available and important infrastructure for German astronomy. It will then be possible to join European and worldwide radio telescope networks such as the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA).
International astronomers are convinced of this: “The Wetterstein Millimeter Telescope will work for decades in worldwide networks like the ngVLA and in conjunction with the South African future telescope SKA and will enable cutting-edge research,” explains J. Anton Zensus, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
The WMT project has also aroused great interest at the national level. A cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Frequency Physics and Radar Technology is already being intensively discussed, in which the telescope can be used as a receiver element for radar experiments in conjunction with the large radar facility TIRA (Tracking and Imaging Radar) for observing and analyzing active satellites, space debris or near-Earth asteroids.
A German company is responsible for the antenna design of the North American telescope network: mtex antenna technologies developed it and is also responsible for building the first prototype telescopes. The reflector panels, unique in design and precision, are also based on German engineering. Built by Concad, their surfaces have a precision that corresponds to half the diameter of a human hair.
The Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus
The Schneefernerhaus is located just below the summit of the Zugspitze at an altitude of 2650 meters. According to the plans of the Free State of Bavaria, the research station is to be considerably strengthened in the coming years and given an even higher international profile. A few days ago they could celebrate their 25th anniversary. At the celebration in the presence of Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder, Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber expressed his support for the planned construction of the radio telescope on the Zugspitze. The goal is to further consolidate Bavaria’s place in the Champions League of research. A study is already underway to find the ideal location for the telescope.
“We are very happy to be part of the consortium of the UFS Schneefernerhaus since this year. This enables us to carry out innovative research, which we can only do together with our partners at Germany’s highest research station,” says JMU President Paul Pauli.
The scientific community at the University of Würzburg is eager to undertake scientific projects at this extraordinary location. For example, representatives from the fields of remote sensing, medicine, astronomy and biology have already taken advantage of the new opportunities to work on their specific topics there. The Wetterstein Millimeter Telescope will be a new, particularly visible contribution of JMU to cutting-edge research at the top of Germany.
