Research Gallery > Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
Research Gallery
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
1st Front End Service Vehicle (FESV) arrived AOS |
Image Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Carlos Padilla (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
After its month-long journey from Taiwan, the first of the two Front-End Service Vehicles is being tested at the ALMA Operations Support
Facility in Chile. In this photo, the FESV cabin raises to service the interior of a North American ALMA telescope. The first FESV is named
Mei-hua after the Taiwanese plum blossom, a revered, winter-blooming flower.
|
Under collaboration with Aeronautical Research Laboratory, Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, ASIAA has established the East Asia Front-End Integration Center (EA FEIC). So far the Center has delivered fifteen “front end systems” to Chile. Taiwan team was also in charge of making two Front-End Service Vehicles (FESV) for the complex. The FESV is a custom-designed truck which transports and services ALMA’s temperature-sensitive astronomical equipment. |