Making the Roads between ALMA Antennas

31 December, 2009 / Read time: 1 minute

In 2009, former North American ALMA Project Director Dr. Adrian Russell and former ALMA Site Development Manager, Eduardo Donoso, discussed how the roads were graded for the ALMA observatory.

The Chilean Altiplano isn't all that flat. Centuries of wind erosion have made it a bit lumpy. ALMA's telescopes must all be level when they are bolted down, and the desert drive to their pads must also be smooth. Here, you can see how the telescope site is being bulldozed to perfection.

Credits: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)