Checking an ALMA antenna

Technicians and engineers are performing inspections and engineering tests on an ALMA antenna at the Operations Support Facility (OSF), located at 2900 metres altitude on the road to the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau, near San Pedro de Atacama in the II Region of Chile. ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is the largest astronomical project in existence and is a truly global partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA. The ALMA array will initially be composed of 66 antennas, provided by the different partners. When the antennas are delivered by the partners to ALMA, they are tested and inspected for their final acceptance.