There is a little bit of CAEN, Italy in the picture of the century. CAEN in fact designed and supplied 83 customized power supplies for the ALMA telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array).
ALMA is a single instrument, composed initially of 66 high-precision antennas, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, 5000 metres above sea level. The array has been constructed on Chajnantor plateau at wavelengths of 0.3 to 9.6 mm. Its ’12 metre array’ will have fifty 12-m diameter antennas, acting together as a single telescope – an interferometer. The antenna Front-End data acquisition system, placed in the antenna’s base cabin, is powered with CAEN custom developed Low Voltage Power Supply unit. This PS unit make available 8 LV different voltages with extremely low ripple, remotely controllable.
About ESO
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe. It is supported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in the Atacama Desert region of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor.
ESO WEB site: http://www.eso.org/
About ALMA
The ALMA project is a partnership between Europe, Japan and North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by ESO, in Japan by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in cooperation with the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada
ESO ALMA Project Web site: http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/alma/index.html
ALMA web site: http://www.almaobservatory.org/
