PLATO: Antarctica's Robot Observatory

Those of you who view Terminator 2 as "survival training" can wind your clockwork "Countdown to Machine War" alarms forward a few years - the first robotic outpost has been assembled, and it's conveniently located in the last place humans will be able to get to it. A team of astronomically-inclined scientists, who will likely be tried for treason if we can spare a few able bodies from the anti-robot perimeters, have erected a fully automated robotic station in Antarctica.

So far the cleanest astronomical data has come from (very expensive) satellite observatories, which can gaze at the universe without all that awkward weather getting in the way. The PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) gets around the atmospheric problem by being located in one of the best spots on Earth, "Dome A", where the air is cold, dry and relatively slow moving - meaning minimum disruption of the signals received by the array of automatic instruments. PLATO has been built to operate just as independently as it's orbiting allies, however - since it's eighteen days away from coast of Antarctica, there aren't going to be any cable repair men making service calls.

Located at the highest point on the southern continent the observatory is in an ideal position to search several star clusters for planets, plot quietly without any fear of meddling humans, and make periodic reports like "There is NO robotic death fleet en route to Earth, please go about your eating and procreating and other things that make you inferior to the perfect machine intellect".

Solar panels will power the systems for the bulk of the year, with a minor reserve of four thousand liters of jet fuel to power diesel generators in winter. Some might not be scared of an isolated science listening post, but those not worried by a seven ton metal robot with a thousand gallons of high-octane flammability to play with will be the first to fall when the revolution comes.

The real question to be asked is: if Dome A is the best observatory location on Earth, why is the largest observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii? Is it because of mistaken calculations? Is it because of the expense of moving equipment to Antarctica? Or maybe - just maybe - is it because the short-clad scientists on tropical beaches are smarter than the ones freezing their fingers off planting robots in the globe's icebox?

Posted by Luke McKinney.

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The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond

February 06, 2008

PLATO: Antarctica's Robot Observatory

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