New Scientist SPACE - Vast array of tiny antennas could talk to spacecraft

The same technology found in Bluetooth headset or wireless LAN could be used
to build a cheap, powerful transmitter for communicating with deep space
probes. It could even illuminate planets and asteroids for radar astronomy.

More at http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8213
--
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
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Nick wrote:

The same technology found in Bluetooth headset or wireless LAN could be used
to build a cheap, powerful transmitter for communicating with deep space
probes. It could even illuminate planets and asteroids for radar astronomy.

More at http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8213

Phased array active radar is nothing new. The intricate details are
highly classified - there is one operating not many miles from here on
Fylingdales moor. Its sidelobes used to do a great job of disabling
Jaguar car electronic ignitions. It can be done, but it isn't easy.

The original UK phased array radio telescope was the 4 acre array in
Cambridge that promptly discover the Crab pulsar.

I am inclined to side with Martin Slade - the computational difficulties
of scaling up from one tile have been hugely underestimated.

Regards,
Martin Brown

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:31:21 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

Nick wrote:

there is one operating not many miles from here on
Fylingdales moor. Its sidelobes used to do a great job of disabling
Jaguar car electronic ignitions. It can be done, but it isn't easy.

If mine is anything to go by, disabling Jaguars certainly isn't hard!