Obtaining and maintaining information about the gravitational deformation of the SARAO radio telescopes at HartRAO

Radio telescopes are pivotal in receiving radio frequencies from space. These telescopes, typically featuring parabolic dishes, focus radio waves onto a central receiving point to amplify the incoming signal. The stability of the telescope’s main reflector’s shape across various orientations is crucial, as deformations can distort the received signal. This project focuses on the 26-meter and the 15-m radio telescopes at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in South Africa. A high-end laser scanner is employed to record the surface of the rotating paraboloid reflector in multiple orientations. The telescope is capable of moving through different declinations and hour angles requiring to measuring different positions of the telescope, to provide a complete picture of the deformations. Fitting models are applied to estimate the shape of the rotating paraboloid from the raw data also considering calibration errors of the laser scanner used.