Shielding Observatories Through Legal Constructs: Noise Mitigation for Radio Astronomy Through Land Use Regulation of Laboratory Environments

Based on theoretical predictions of detectable radio signals, the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ)—a 13,000 square mile quiet zone to abate interference at the Green Bank Observatory (GBO)—was created in 1958. The boundaries of the NRQZ along with radio frequency allocations held by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) centered both the then-contemptuous radio observatory and its future enhancements' ability to detect faint low frequency signals emitted by astronomical phenomena. This talk focuses on the expanded laboratory originally imagined at the creation of the NRQZ, which limited noise mitigation rights to those originating from structures affixed to the land, including radio broadcast and cellular antennae. However, in 1997, the deployment of the Iridium satellite communications system evaded what radio astronomers thought were robust protections of radio astronomy offered by the NRZQ. This proliferation of satellites meant that noise interference would also originate from the very environment–i.e., space–that GBO observed. Focusing on the evolution of noise mitigation required at GBO, this talk analyzes the scales of GBO's spatial environment that span the immediate observatory site, the surrounding populated areas contained within NRZQ, and space, particularly Low Earth Orbit that now hosts tens of thousands of satellites. This talk reveals that although the original creators of the NRZQ incorporated future imaginations for the expanded laboratory of GBO, radio astronomers and policymakers' then-contemporaneous understanding of noise from a ground-based perspective generated loopholes in legal protections, failing to address noise emanating from space. This talk concludes that understanding noise mitigation as an assemblage of layers and scales encompassing the local and cosmic, even if unrealized, may result in robust, sustainable land use rights that can appropriately account for evolving noise-producing technologies.