First move of antenna in ALMA
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
One of the nine antennas that have arrived in ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) was moved last July 8th by using one of the two antenna transporters specially designed to carry the radio astronomy antennas.The antenna was transported from inside the assembly hall to an outdoor foundation within the VertexRSI construction area, the contractor for the North American antennas of ALMA. The reason for this move is that this antenna -the second North American antenna received by ALMA in Chile- had completed the functional phase of acceptance testing.
From this new setting, the antenna will continue the servo system calibration and pointing accuracy performance testing. This spectacular move took approximately 2 hours from lift to set down, since the transporter is able to move at a maximum speed of 12 km/h. This operation finished with the 100 ton antenna placed with millimetric precision on a concrete docking pad.
ALMA is a partnership between Europe, East Asia and North America, in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in East Asia by the National Institute of Natural Science of Japan in cooperation with the Sinica Academy of Taiwan, and in North America by the US National Science Foundation in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada.
ALMA construction and operation are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI).
