Assembly of a European ALMA Telescope

31 December, 2009 / Read time: 1 minute

In this footage from 2009, Former North American ALMA Project Director Dr. Adrian Russell showed us what was happening in the European Antenna laydown area at the ALMA Operations Support Facility. Here, pieces of the European 12-meter antennas were delivered and assembled.

The dishes were shipped in two big pieces, which were then assembled on site. Inside the temperature-controlled assembly building, the pieces of the dish were glued together and the panels attached and adjusted. The dishes were set upon their yoke structures outside, then brought to smaller, cubic buildings made of shipping containers where they could be protected from the environment while engineers integrated the wiring and platforms. Finally, receiver cabins were mounted onto the assembled yoke-and-disk structure outside.

Credits: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)