Future developments may be followed via the VLT Information webpage. It will later be used on this telescope. The transport carriage is taken down to the basecamp and the second M1 Cell with the concrete mirror is loaded on. The convoy moves back up the mountain to the UT2 enclosure and the M1 Cell is lifted inside. It is elevated towards the back of the lower telescope struts to check the fit.
Work continues on the encoder installation.
The cell is then lowered and the M3 tower on which the flat, tertiary mirror will be mounted, is installed. At UT3, the second part of the centerpiece is lifted and put in place. This is the most difficult operation during the entire telescope assembly sequence. It involves lowering the second piece of the centerpiece weighing over 50 tonnes into the bearing with a clearance of less than 1 millimetre. The balance of the telescope structure is then checked and adjusted before it is inclined with its M1 Cell in place for the first time.