ALMA Band 5 Mirrorblock Production

© NOVA

If you happened to be around in the small hours of the night recently, you might have heard the milling machine (still) running. It loyally and untiringly worked for us through the night, making mirror blocks for ALMA band 5. In an 18 hour production run, it produced 4 complete blocks, while an additional 2 hours were needed for some deburring, laser engraving of the serial number, and packing and setting up the next run.

All this was made possible by a smart redesign by Niels Tromp (NOVA-ASTRON) that reduced the number of separate parts from 5 to just a single accurate part with 2 integrated mirrors. By a combination of clever milling strategy, focus on quality, smart production by Menno Schuil, Niels and the team of NOVA/ASTRON, and measurement by SRON Groningen, the production went pretty well and might be finished when this daily image is finally published.

ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) is a mm and sub-mm wave interferometer. The ALMA band 5 is covering the 162-211 MHz (1,4-1,8 mm) wavelength.

http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/about-alma/how-does-alma-work/technology/front-end

http://www.astronomie.nl/#!/actueel/nieuws/_detail/gli/nederland-bouwt-extra-set-ontvangers-voor-alma/