66 antennas, up to 16km baselines, 5000m elevation, 28 km from support: the coming challenge of ALMA Observatory antenna group operations and maintenance

摘要

The ALMA Observatory is under construction at 5000 m above sea level on the Chajnantor plateau located in theAtacama Desert, Chile. When complete it will be comprised of 66 parabolic reflector antennas that can be configured invarious arrays using a subset of 192 different stations with baselines from 15 to 16,000 m. The Antenna Group in theALMA Department of Engineering is responsible for maintenance of the antenna mechanical, control and structuralsystems, antenna relocations and mechanical aspects of astronomical instrumentation exchanges. The large number ofantennas, expanse, elevation, weather conditions of the Array Operation Site (AOS) and its distance from the OperationsSupport Facility (OSF) will make operations and maintenance for the Antenna Group a challenge.Currently, approximately half of the antennas are in place at the AOS and the first period of Early Science is underway.Operational strategies and specialized equipment developed for preventive and corrective maintenance, arrayreconfiguration and weather event response are being put to the test and revised based on real experience.This paper explains the operational environment, the constraints it imposes, some of the strategies and specializedequipment being developed to reduce reaction time and resources needed to maintain the array and maximize availabilityfor science operations.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.