The mission of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is to design, build, and operate large radio telescopes facilities for use by the scientific community. Radio telescopes, or antennas, collect faint radio waves from natural celestial objects (e.g. planets, stars and other galaxies). The data is collected and then analyzed using powerful computers and software designed specifically for this purpose. The newest NRAO telescope project is the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), which is an international endeavor to build 64 12-meter antennas in Llano de Chajnantor, Chile. The recently commissioned Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), located in West Virginia, is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. The Very Large Array (VLA) in Socorro, New Mexico consists of 27 antennas, each measuring 25 meters in diameter and weighing approximately 200 tons. The VLA is being upgraded to the Expanded VLA (EVLA), which will incorporate state-of-the-art electronics to replace present equipment dating to the 1970s and may include approximately eight new stations as distant as 250 kilometers from the current array. The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is comprised of ten radio telescopes that work together as the world's largest full-time astronomical instrument.

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