Allen Telescope Array - Opportunistic Science

Opportunistic Science

After array construction, a few science goals that were not explicitly designed have been mentioned.

For a very different science goal, the Allen Telescope Array has offered to provide the downlink for any contestants in the Google Lunar X Prize. This is practical since the array, with no modifications, covers the main space communications bands (S-band and X-band). A telemetry decoder would be the only needed addition.

Also, the ATA was mentioned as a candidate for searching for a new type of radio transient. It is an excellent choice for this because of a large field of view and wide instantaneous bandwidth. Following this suggestion, an instrument was custom-built for the ATA to search for bright radio transients, and observations were carried out between February and April 2008.