Socorro Overview

The town of Socorro is the home of NRAO operations in New Mexico (NM). Located on the campus of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech), the Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center houses scientific, engineering, technical, computer and support staff for the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (Jansky VLA) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The Science Operations Center houses the control center and correlator for VLBA observations and hosts personnel working on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is located 80km west of Socorro, on the higher elevation Plains of San Agustin. The Jansky VLA consists of 27 reconfigurable radio antennas that can be deployed along a Y-shaped configuration. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) construction project was completed on-time & on-schedule in December 2012, and the Jansky VLA initiated full science operations in January 2013. The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of 10 radio telescopes controlled remotely from the Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center. The antennas are spread across the United States from St. Croix in the Virgin Islands to Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.

Planning a visit? Please review our registration process here: NRAO-NM Visitor Registration

NRAO
Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center
P.O. Box O
1011 Lopezville Road
Socorro, NM 87801-0387

Phone: 1-575-835-7000
Fax: 1-575-835-7027