Deep Space Exploration Society
Colorado — Radio Astronomy at the Speed of Light
Paul Sobon, DSES President and EVE25 project manager, has written a report covering all aspects of this project. The EVE experiment was conducted on March 22, 2025.
Read the report here: EVE25 Report
EVE 25 Control Room
EVE25 Main Assembly
Bill Miller provided this report on the DSES team judging at the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair:
On Saturday, February 22nd the DSES team consisting of Barb McAllister, Roger Oakey, Bill Thomas, and Bill Miller participate as special awards judges for the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair.
We judged the senior and junior projects by splitting them into two-person teams. For time savings with so many projects to cover, we tried to judge only those projects that had some relevant aspect to what we do in our society involving, space science, radio, computers, engineering, energy, and other technically relevant areas.
For the full report click here: 2025 Science Fair.
Doug Leber provided the following report on the recent Las Animas High School Visit to the DSES site:
The Deep Space Exploration Society (DSES) hosted its first high school field trip on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, when seventeen Las Animas High School students and three staff members toured the Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center outside Haswell, CO. About half the students will participate in this year’s Colorado Science Olympiad competition. Jennifer Pointon, Science Olympiad coach, and Las Animas High School counselor, said she wanted students to see the Plishner facilities and learn how DSES can provide opportunities for research and mentorship in astronomy, radio, electronics, and engineering. Joshua Japhet (Las Animas HS Dean of Students and Science teacher) and Cody Hines (Las Animas HS Instructional Coach) also helped make this visit successful.
Bill Miller, DSES Vice President, gave an overview of the organization’s history and the years of effort required to revive the 60-foot-diameter radio telescope at the Haswell site. He introduced radio astronomy and some of the studies DSES members have conducted since restoring the telescope, including detecting pulsars and masers, observing solar and planetary radio emissions, and mapping the hydrogen line to show which galaxies are moving toward or away from Earth.
DSES Board member Ray Uberecken and DSES member Roger Oakey showed students how we control the dish to track and focus on deep space objects as Earth revolves. Mr. Japhet said students enjoyed watching how the huge dish moved. Mr. Uberecken also showed different ways radio frequency signals are represented, using an oscilloscope to show a signal’s waveform in real-time (the frequency and shape of an electrical signal) and the same signal in a waterfall display, which shows its intensity and relationship to other signals nearby on the radio spectrum.
Students then braved the intense winds and cold to venture to the bunker location of the DSES amateur radio station, where Board member Paul Sobon demonstrated how long-distance contacts are made using high-frequency (HF) transceivers. Under his supervision, several students learned to call ‘CQ,’ the amateur radio shorthand for “I’m here and ready to take your call!” Unfortunately, because band conditions were poor, no student got a response. Later, Paul Sobon reached a radio amateur in the Canary Islands, and students observed two-way HF radio communication between stations over 5,000 miles apart.
Since 2009, society members have devoted hundreds of hours to rebuilding the Plishner site. In 2023, a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) provided funds to complete a new building suitable for hosting groups.
DSES President Myron Babcock noted that this field trip visit to the Plishner Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center reflected the dreams of Michael Lowe, former Board DSES Board President, who sought to create a center for radio astronomy and space science education in Southeast Colorado. Over the next year, DSES hopes to host more school trips to the Plishner Center and work with area middle- and high-school students to advance their studies in science and radio.
If you are a parent, teacher, or school representative interested in learning more about DSES and how the society can support your students, please contact Doug Leber, the DSES education outreach coordinator.
Bill Miller, DSES VP, has written a great report on the DSES Open House that was held on October 5, 2024. It was a very successful event with over 100 attendees enjoying the new building and other activities.
Click here for the report: 2024 Open House.
There is also a video provided by Mike K0FYR: 2024 Open House
NRAO’s Ham Radio-Related Online Courses are Open for Enrollment.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)Funded by a grant from ARDC, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has developed two no-cost, self-paced online courses on the SuperKnova platform that introduce amateur radio-related fundamental concepts. These courses were created in an effort to not only get learners licensed, but to also grow the amateur radio community, contributing to the hobby’s longevity.
If you’re interested in becoming a ham, if you’re already a ham and need a refresher, or if you’re simply interested in the fundamentals of the electromagnetic spectrum as it applies to your career, check out the below links to enroll in one of these courses:
Technician Amateur Radio License and EMS Course https://superknova.org/technician-course/
General Amateur Radio License and EMS Course https://superknova.org/general-course/
You can also learn more by checking out their recent press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/unlock-the-secrets-of-the-invisible-radio-universe-with-superknova/
by: Bill Miller Feb 24, 2024
On Saturday, February 24th the DSES team consisting of Floyd Glick, Dan Layne, Roger Oakey, and Bill Miller participate as special awards judges for the Pike Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair.
We judged the senior and junior projects by splitting into two 2 man teams. For relevance and time savings with so many projects to cover, we tried to judge only those projects that had some relevant aspect to what we do in the society involving, space science, radio, computers, engineering, energy, and other related areas.
We planned to give a 1st and 2nd place award in both senior and junior divisions for a cash award in an amount decided by the DSES BOD and a certificate from the DSES. However, in the senior group, we found one additional and unconventional research project for this age group and believe that it also deserves a special award, so we have added one additional award in a tie for senior division second place.
Here are the projects and award levels:
Senior 1st Place Special DSES Award: SD 2 – Waste to Watts: Converting Locally Sourced Organic Waste into Activated Carbon Based Supercapacitors. Shrey Rohilla, Grade 11 The Classical Academy High School
Senior 2nd Place Special DSES Award: SC 5 – Strength of EMF Waves Radiating from High Powered Electrical Lines. Jessa Book Grade 10, Miami Yoder High School
Senior 2nd Place Special DSES Award: SC 1 – Can Quasars create “dark” Stars using the Dark Matter they Absorb? Rhianna Williams Grade 12 Palmer High School
Junior 1st Place Special DSES Award: JD 2 – Shopcart 2050. Advait Jadhav Grade 7 Chinook Trail Middle School
Junior 2nd Place DSES Special Award: JD 6 – Object Detection with Raspberry Pi to Help Blind Mobility Angelina Won Grade 7 Challenger Middle School
DSES was represented at the January NCARC Winterfest and February RMHAM The Swapfest by Paul NO0T and Bill WT0DX.
The Swapfest, held at the Adams County Fairgrounds, was a great event, with good attendance, a lot of equipment for sale and many interesting conversations about DSES with the attendees. We had a great location by the front door, so there was a lot of traffic coming by the booth. Myron KL7YY and Ray AAOL from DSES were also able to attend the hamfest. Paul picked up a pristine Icom 7300 for the DSES HF station at a bargain price!
See the following photos of the booth and general views of The Swapfest.
Cool Science Festival Presentation on Saturday October 11, 2020
Rich Russel made an online presentation at the Cool Science Festival. The presentation covered the science of radio astronomy and the accomplishments of the Deep Space Exploration Society. The presentation was streamed live on Facebook and Youtube. You can watch the presentation here:
This 8-day regional event, designed to ignite wonder and inspire curiosity about the world around us, attracts between 10,000 and 20,000 attendees each year. For more information about the Cool Science Festival go to:
A new article appearing in the April 2020 Scientific American is “A New Map of the Milky Way” by astronomers Mark J. Reid and Xin-Wu Zheng.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-map-of-the-milky-way/
The article describes recent parallax studies, using Very Long Base Line Interferometry(VLBI) radio astronomy in Japan and North America, to more accurately determine the spiral structure of our Milky Way galaxy. The studies indicate also that the Sun is closer to the central plane of the Milky Way than previously thought.
These VLBI studies utilize natural MASERs that are produced by molecules of water and methyl alcohol in ionized regions just outside hot stars. Hot stars are always short lived, not lasting more than a few million years, because they rapidly burn through their nuclear fuel at their higher temperatures. They therefore are found close to their original location of birth. They are one of the features that define a galaxy’s spiral arms. And so to map the location of the hot star MASERS is a means to map the spiral structure of the galaxy. Radio astronomy VLBI enables angular position measurements to high resolution. The angular position measurements are used to measure the parallax over the course of a year, and therefore measure distance to more accuracy. The more accurate determination of angular position in the sky and distance therefore enables a more accurate mapping.
Deep Space Exploration Society members Bill Miller, Gary Agranat, and Tony Bigbee participated as judges at the 2019 Pikes Peak Regional Science Fair. The Fair was held at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs University Center building on Saturday February 23rd. This year 115 students from 20 schools presented projects. The purpose of the fair is to encourage students to take more active interest in the study of science and mathematics, to encourage experiment and consideration of science careers, and to provide a means of reward and recognition. Informally the fair gives students an opportunity to interact with and get helpful feedback from specialists already in the fields.
Bill and Gary were at the science fair to judge and award prizes specifically offered by DSES. The prizes were offered to encourage projects related to astronomy and radio. However any outstanding STEM project related closely enough to the fields were considered. Bill and Gary interviewed 17 students in 16 projects at the fair, at the middle school and high school levels, with most of the topics in physical sciences or engineering. A scoring criteria was used based on the qualities of the ideas, hypotheses, methods, data, and lessons learned.
DSES awarded one Senior Division prizes and two Junior Division prizes:
For outstanding senior division project we gave a certificate and $100 to Mark Bloomfield. Mark received 6 additional special awards from other organizations, and he placed 3rd in the Fair’s Senior Physical Sciences category.
• Mark Bloomfield [grade 11] [project SC9], Coronado High School/David Bloomfield: ‘‘Charged up: Testing lithium ion battery performance using a Raspberry Pi load cell’’
For the two Junior Division prizes we gave a certificate and $50 each to Hailey Kressen and Benjamin Homan.
• Hailey Kressin [grade8] [project 8E10], The Classical Academy JHS/Candus Muir: ‘‘A sixth sense: Omnidirectional presence detection system’’. Hailey received 6 additional special awards, and she placed 2nd in the Grade 8 Physical Sciences & Engineering category.
• Benjamin Homan[8] [8E1], Monument Academy/Karl Brown: ‘‘Does pressure affect carbon dioxide absorption by polyethyleneimine?’’ Benjamin received 5 additional special awards, and he placed 4th in the Grade 8 Physical Sciences & Engineering category.
Tony participated as a general Award Judge for the Fair itself. He judged middle school social and behavioral science projects.
Tony took a few minutes to take some photos. The first three photos are from when Bill and Gary interviewed Connor Takenaka about his cybersecurity project. The third includes Tony.
Bill is show interviewing Josh Nakka and Katelynn Salmon for their Senior level science project “Engineering a portable refreshable braille device for improved communication.” Gary is interviewing Jenna Salvat for her Senior level science project “A geothermal analysis of metamorphic lithologies surrounding Cripple Creek and Victor Diatreme”.
Projects Bill and Gary interviewed:
Bill presented the DSES awards at the science fair awards ceremony on the following Tuesday, February 26th.
The Pikes Peak Regional Science Fair created this nice video about the activities and the students in the science fair:
2019 Pikes Peak Regional Science Fair [https://vimeo.com/319543131].