cheaper 210 foot Parkes telescope completed in Australia a few years earlier. Bernard Burke described the 140 Foot radio telescope as having “served well, but its equatorial geometry is antique, its structural flexure is dreadful, its surface quality is inferior, its maintenance is expensive and man-power intensive, and its pointing is substandard.” An interesting quote, and measure of the times, was related to the use of computers for coordinate conversion if using an alt-az mount: “... the operation of a precision scientific instrument should not be trusted to a computer.” This is almost identical to the view that Bernard Mills expressed in Australia at that time when he suggested that aperture synthesis would never be practical if it depended on the use of an electronic computer.
But this book goes further; the authors have analyzed, like a scientific research paper, the reasons behind the decisions and the implications of the management structure that had been established. This concludes with an excellent summary of lessons learned; some written by Dave Heeschen, who was the senior member of the NRAO Scientific Staff during most of the 140 foot construction, and others summarized by the authors. Since it is clear that we have still not learned from these mistakes in our subsequent and even current management of big projects, I repeat them here in this Foreword for maximum impact.
In 1992, Dave Heeschen summarized the 140 Foot project as follows:
The 140 Foot is a classic example of how not to design and build a telescope. The design specs were set by a committee of outside consultants who had no responsibility or accountability for the final result, and who gave liberally of poor advice. The 140-foot project leader, a very nice gentleman who was [assistant] to the president of AUI and responsible for the entire feasibility study that led to the establishment of NRAO, uncritically accepted all this advice. The telescope was originally going to have an alt-az mount because the consulting engineers thought that was the most feasible…. But the steering committee membership changed from time to time and finally had on it a prominent and outspoken scientist who insisted the mount should be equatorial…. Then the solar astronomer on the steering committee decided that the telescope should be able to observe the Sun from sunrise to sunset on June 22 each year. The errors made in bidding, contracting, and construction were even worse…. AUI wound up with a fixed price contract, for $4 million, with a company—E W Bliss—that really didn’t want the job, except for one enthusiastic vice [president] who apparently bullied them first into accepting the final contract. He quit shortly afterward and AUI was left with a semi-hostile contractor.
Some important lessons were learned, or should have been learned, from the 140 Foot experience:
- Beware of the lowest bidder
- Be sure the contract is clear about who is responsible for what
- Finish the design before starting construction
