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Cryogenic Truck Services Remote Telescopes
coondoggie writes "Moving a 115-ton telescope down a mountain and 40 miles on the back of a humongous truck to a servicing facility is no task for the timid. It's a job the caretakers of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, no longer have to worry about thanks to a new custom designed truck that can transport and service ALMA's temperature-sensitive astronomical equipment without removing a telescope from the working array at 16,500 feet in the Chilean mountains."
Watch out for rogue James Camerons! They might write in a nasty accident.
For anyone who wants to know more about the ALMA project as a whole, here's the project's main page:
http://www.almaobservatory.org/
(Disclaimer: I work for the project as a staff astronomer).
Disclaimer: I work for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (the US partner for ALMA).
There's lots more info on the transporters available on the ALMA web site. The two antenna transporters, named "Otto" and "Lore", have their own page at http://almaobservatory.org/en/technology/transporters. Each transporter actually has 2 500kW power plants (for redundancy) and cooling them at 5km altitude is a major challenge (actually, the datacenter has the same problem -- there's just not enough air up there to remove the heat).
There's lots more pictures of them carrying antennas there, too.
Finally, a video of the transporter taking the first ALMA antenna to the high site .
Despite what the summary says, we will still have to take antennas down the mountain to service them. We just won't have to take them down specifically to service the receiver.
For those of you wondering: Alma has 2 major work sites. The Array Operations Site (AOS) at 5000 meters elevation. This is a great spot for scientific observations, but also harsh work environment. So there is also an Operations Support Facility (OSF) at 3000m where the antennas are assembled and tested. The antenna transporters, of which are far more impressive than the Front End Service Vehicle, easily move the antennas to the high site. They will also move them around at the high site, much like the different configurations of the VLA (well, now the EVLA).
Actually, moving those antennas gets boring fast - and we want to keep it that way (yes, I am currently working there). The transporter goes at a few KPH - around a fast walk. Or 1st gear, if you insist on car analogies. Moving them around is only a big deal because of the cost in time, manpower, and down time of the antenna. It is about a 1/2 day trip to take an antenna 1-way, so the time adds up fast.
You can find more on the project at our webpage here: http://www.almaobservatory.org/
-WolvesOfTheNight
Well, mainly because human beings cannot survive at 5000m without oxygen masks, while 3000m is bearable. The residence halls, laboratories, control rooms, and servicing facilities are at the lower altitude. Even at Mauna Kea (4100m), the telescope control rooms are further down the mountain where out-of-shape astronomers and technicians are less likely to drop dead.
They didn't mention in the article that, in the interest of keeping the drivers alive, those trucks (Transporter and servicer) have pressurized cabins just like an airplane.
-- John Dierdorf, Austin TX
This is wrong, human beings can survive just fine at 5000m. I have been at the high site as a visitor, and nobody working there sports an oxygen mask (although oxygen bottles are available in the minivans should the need arise). All you need is a quick test, then you are good to go.
Well, mainly because human beings cannot survive at 5000m without oxygen masks, while 3000m is bearable.
Dude, people have climbed mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. The highest city in the world is at 5100 meters with 30,000 inhabitants with individuals living much, much higher.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Even at Mauna Kea (4100m), the telescope control rooms are further down the mountain where out-of-shape astronomers and technicians are less likely to drop dead.
All the summit observatories on Mauna Kea (4100-4200m) were built with summit control rooms.
A few of the smaller, older ones have implemented remote operations from their offices in Hilo or Waimea, and most have some remote observation capabilities, but seven or eight of the eleven on the summit have operators on the summit every night they're in use, and summit observations are still common at most of those as well.
The thing further down the mountainside is dining hall, dormitories, etc. We don't operate or observe from there.
(I operate the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, 4140m up.)
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.