Allen Telescope Array

The Allen Telescope Array (ATA), formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope (1hT) is a radio telescope array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). The array is situated at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, 290 miles (470 km) northeast of San Francisco, California.Originally developed as a joint effort between the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory (RAL) at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkley) with funds obtained from an initial US$11.5 million donation by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the project completed the first phase of construction and become operational on 11 October 2007 with 42 antennas (ATA-42), after Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) pledged an additional $13.5 million to support the construction of the first and second phases.Though overall Allen has contributed more than $30 million to the project, the project has not succeeded in building the 350 six metre (19.7 feet) dishes originally conceived, and suffered an operational hiatus due to funding shortfalls between April and August 2011. Subsequently, UC Berkeley exited the project, completing divestment in April 2012. The facility is now managed by SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute), an independent, nonprofit research institute.In August 2014 the installation was threatened by a forest fire in the area and was briefly forced to shut down, but ultimately emerged largely unscathed.