Inside the Vertex Assembly Building at ALMA

31 December, 2009 / Read time: 1 minute

In this footage from 2009, former North American ALMA Project Director Dr. Adrian Russell toured inside the Vertex Assembly Building with former Vertex Technical Lead, Lutz Stenvers. VertexRSI assembled its 25 12-meter of diameter North American ALMA telescopes inside this 330-foot building, at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF).

Installation, assembly, and testing for the North American antennas took place inside this building, followed by final optical pointing tests on a pad outside. The antenna design required immense specificity and precision, as the antennas need to be movable, need to function in extreme conditions, and still need to operate with the utmost accuracy.

Credits: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)