Conservation of spectrum for scientific services, — The radio astronomical perspective

Scientific services are indispensable for a technical society, but by their nature they have more stringent protection requirements. They are efficient in their use of allocated bandwidth and utilise the highest possible detection sensitivity, but any detectable man-made signal in their band jeopardizes their operation. There is no free choice of frequencies, these are given by natural molecular transition frequencies. As a consequence, only the scrupulous regulatory protection of core frequencies for science can ensure the viability of scientific use of radio spectrum for the benefit of all.