Panorama of the ALMA Operational Support Facility

The ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) is the base camp for the every-day, routine operation of the observatory. It is located at an altitude of about 2900 meters, quite high compared to standard living conditions, but still quite acceptable for scientific projects in astronomy of similar scope. However, the OSF will not only serve as the location for operating the Joint ALMA Observatory, it is also the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) station for all the high technology equipment before being moved to the Array Operations Site (AOS), located at 5000 meters altitude.