PLATO-R: a new concept for Antarctic science

摘要

PLATO-R is an autonomous, robotic observatory that can be deployed anywhere on the Antarctic plateau by Twin Otter aircraft. It provides heat, data acquisition, communications, and up to 1kW of electric power to support astronomical and other experiments throughout the year. PLATO-R was deployed in 2012 January to Ridge A, believed to be the site with the lowest precipitable water vapour (and hence the best atmospheric transmission at terahertz frequencies) on earth.^1-4 PLATO-R improves upon previous PLATO designs that were built into ten-foot shipping containers by being much smaller and lighter, allowing it to be field-deployable within 2-3 days by a crew of four.