P-2500 Antenna

The P-2500 antenna, also known as the RT-70 radio telescope, stands near the village of Galyonki in the Oktyabrsky municipal district of Primorsky Krai, about 30 kilometers west of Ussuriysk. It is one of the largest fully steerable single-dish antennas in the world: the main reflector is 70 meters across, the secondary reflector 7 meters, the whole structure stands 86.36 meters tall, and the moving part weighs about 5,000 tonnes. The dish uses a two-mirror Gregorian design, with an effective receiving area of about 2,500 square meters and a transmitting area of about 2,000 square meters. The antenna is part of the Eastern Deep Space Communication Center.

History

The RT-70 at Galyonki was commissioned in 1984 and worked on the Vega 1 and Vega 2 program, tracking descent probes in the atmosphere of Venus. From 1991 to 1996 the telescope took part in international communication programs: in 1991, under an agreement with NASA/JPL, it conducted trial reception of telemetry from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.

In 2001 this very station sent the command to deorbit the Mir space station into the Pacific Ocean. In 2006-2012 the antenna was reconstructed and switched to digital equipment, and in 2012-2014 it was upgraded to operate in the Ku and Ka bands.

Today

The station is still operating but closed to free access: the site is guarded and houses several working control rooms. The antenna at Galyonki supports communication with spacecraft, including the Spektr-R space telescope, and may be used in the future Luna-Glob and Spektr-RG programs.

According to visitors who have been allowed onto the site, reaching the dish itself requires an elevator to the moving base of the "dish", followed by a ladder for the rest of the climb. A local legend claims the station supported communication during the first human spaceflight in 1961 — there is no documentary evidence for this, since the station itself was built only in 1984.

Getting there

The P-2500 antenna is clearly visible when approaching Galyonki along the road from Ussuriysk — the huge dish rises above an open field and can be seen from far away. A hiking route of about 11 kilometers with a modest elevation change (around 24 meters up, 40 meters down) leads closer to the site. The station's own territory is guarded and closed to free entry, so the antenna is usually viewed from open points around the village.