Radio dishes take root in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley as CHORD expands.

CHORD is installing hundreds of six‑metre radio dishes near Penticton, B.C.; 37 are in place and the project aims for 512 by next year.

CHORD, the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio‑transient Detector, is under construction in a flat valley about 20 kilometres south of Penticton, B.C. White, six‑metre dishes are being installed on the site and linked so they can act as a single large radio receiver to map hydrogen and detect transient signals. The project is funded at roughly $23‑million and much of the manufacturing and assembly is taking place at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Team members described technical milestones and cost‑driven design choices during a recent site visit. Key details: - Status: 37 dishes were installed as of last week, with a goal of reaching 512 dishes by next year. - Design and production: Dishes are made on site using moulded fiberglass to reduce metal usage and control costs; the production facility is about the size of two hockey arenas and the team targets two antennas completed per workday when at full tempo. - Technical milestones: A trio of dishes produced CHORD's "first fringes" by observing the radio source Cassiopeia A, showing the dishes can be combined to form interference patterns. - Computing and data: The array uses 156 graphics processing units and custom software to manage and analyse large data streams. - Network and scope: The core array in B.C. will be joined by 128 additional dishes at two remote U.S. sites to form a continent‑spanning interferometer, and the combined collecting area is described as equivalent to about two soccer fields. Summary: If CHORD reaches its planned scale and integrates the US outrigger stations, the project aims to map neutral hydrogen across large cosmic volumes and to detect and localize fast radio bursts that can probe matter between galaxies. Planned work includes completing the core array to its 512‑dish goal and integrating the additional outriggers in the United States; timelines call for the core expansion by next year.