page_title: Atacama Large Millimeter Array
section_title: Transporting antennas
hierarchical_section_title: Atacama Large Millimeter Array / Assembly / Transporting antennas
caption_attribution_description: English: Don’t be fooled! This isn’t a futuristic new Mars rover — though the harsh terrain of the Chilean Atacama Desert could easily be mistaken for Mars. This 20-metre-long, 10-metre-wide and 28-wheeled vehicle is an ALMA transporter known as Otto, pictured bathing beneath the beauty of the Milky Way! This mammoth machine was built in Germany. It was specially designed to transport ALMA antennas from the Operations Support Facility, located at 2900 metres above sea level, up to the Chajnantor Plateau, a site some 5000 metres above sea level and to move the antennas between the different available positions. Otto tips the scales at 130 tonnes, and can clock a top speed of 12 kilometres per hour while carrying an antenna — it certainly won’t be breaking any land speed records! Luckily, speed is not the priority during this delicate process. Safety and precision are paramount. Despite its bulk and power, this bright yellow beast can position an antenna to an accuracy of just a few millimetres, ensuring that every antenna is placed on its foundation pad perfectly. The ability to reposition its 66 antennas is part of what makes ALMA so powerful. You can see Otto in action in ESOcast 56: Gentle Giants in the Desert.
context_page_description: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The array has been constructed on the 5,000 m elevation Chajnantor plateau - near the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. This location was chosen for its high elevation and low humidity, factors which are crucial to reduce noise and decrease signal attenuation due to Earth's atmosphere. ALMA is expected to provide insight on star birth during the early Stelliferous era and detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.
  ALMA is an international partnership among Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile. Costing about US$1.4 billion, it is the most expensive ground-based telescope in operation. ALMA began scientific observations in the second half of 2011 and the first images were released to the press on 3 October 2011. The array has been fully operational since March 2013.
context_section_description: Transporting the 115 tonne antennas from the Operations Support Facility at 2900 m altitude to the site at 5000 m, 
  or moving antennas around the site to change the array size, presents enormous challenges; as portrayed in the television documentary Monster Moves: Mountain Mission. The solution chosen is to use two custom 28-wheel self-loading heavy haulers. The vehicles were made by Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik in Germany and are 10 m wide, 20 m long and 6 m high, weighing 130 tonnes. They are powered by twin turbocharged 500 kW Diesel engines.
  The transporters, which feature a driver's seat designed to accommodate an oxygen tank to aid breathing the thin high-altitude air, place the antennas precisely on the pads. The first vehicle was completed and tested in July 2007. Both transporters were delivered to the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) in Chile on 15 February 2008.
  On 7 July 2008, an ALMA transporter moved an antenna for the first time, from inside the antenna assembly building (Site Erection Facility) to a pad outside the building for testing (holographic surface measurements).
  During Autumn 2009, the first three antennas were transported one-by-one to the Array Operations Site. At the end of 2009, a team of ALMA astronomers and engineers successfully linked three antennas at the 5,000-metre (16,000 ft) elevation observing site thus finishing the first stage of assembly and integration of the fledgling array. Linking three antennas allows corrections of errors that can arise when only two antennas are used, thus paving the way for precise, high-resolution imaging. With this key step, commissioning of the instrument began 22 January 2010.
  On 28 July 2011, the first European antenna for ALMA arrived at the Chajnantor plateau, 5,000 meters above sea level, to join 15 antennas already in place from the other international partners. This was the number of antennas specified for ALMA to begin its first science observations, and was therefore an important milestone for the project. In October 2012, 43 of the 66 antennas had been set up.
caption: ALMA transporter known as Otto.[20]
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