Arrival of 3rd ALMA BUS at the OSF

Photograph of the arrival of the 3rd Backup Structure (BUS) of a European ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) antenna at the Operations Support Facility (OSF). ALMA, the largest ground-based astronomy project in existence, will ultimately be comprised of a giant array of 12-m submillimetre quality antennas, with baselines of several kilometres. An additional, compact array of 7-m and 12-m antennas will complement the main array. ALMA will be based on the Chajnantor plain of the Chilean Andes, 5000 m above sea level. Construction on ALMA started in 2003 and will be completed around 2012. The ALMA project is an international collaboration between Europe, East Asia and North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.