Figure 1: By mid-February, the newly accepted Vertex antenna had been outfitted with ALMA systems. In this photo, a Front End system is being loaded into the antenna receiver cabin.
Figure 1: By mid-February, the newly accepted Vertex antenna had been outfitted with ALMA systems. In this photo, a Front End system is being loaded into the antenna receiver cabin.
Within weeks of the first Vertex antenna’s acceptance, it was outfitted with standard Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) backend from NRAO-Socorro, the engineering model front end from the East Asian Front End Integration Center, and elements of the water vapor radiometer and calibration device from Europe. The surface setting was verified by holography and reset for the appropriate elevation angle.
During March, major components of the AEM antenna, contracted by ESO, will arrive at that contractor’s area at the ALMA Operations Support Facility in northern Chile. This arrival will bring the antenna count at the ALMA site to 14. At the Array Operations Site (AOS) antenna foundation construction continues.
The Joint ALMA Office in Santiago has issued a Newsletter.
Figure 2: Construction continues on the foundations for the Atacama Compact Array. The foundations for the 7m antennas, shown here, allow the antennas to be spaced 8.75m apart.