Magazine | 2025-10-10
German engineering meets astronomy: Together with mtex antenna technology gmbh, which is working on behalf of the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) to realise a challenging radio telescope project, Liebherr-Components Biberach GmbH is taking a new look into the infinity of space.
The world's future most significant radio observatory, the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), will consist of 244 parabolic antennas, each with an 18-metre reflector. The aim is to produce radio images that are hundreds of times sharper than the optical images of the Hubble and James Webb telescopes. This will allow the study of the formation of stars and planets, the surroundings of black holes, and the chemical composition of gas clouds in space.
The core of the technology is the large slewing bearings and drive systems manufactured by Liebherr. The three-row large slewing bearings with an outer diameter of 3.3 metres and the play-free drives enable the 143-tonne antennas to be aligned with millimetre precision, even in wind and temperature fluctuations. The components must be so precise and robust that the reflector is deformed by no more than the thickness of three human hairs on average – engineering at its finest.
