Reach for the stars

has been awarded a $169 million contract by

(AUI) to design, manufacture and deliver 25, 12-metre antennas for the North American portion of the

(ALMA) project, an international astronomy facility.

ALMA's primary goal is to provide a radio telescope array that will allow scientists to observe and image galaxies out to the edge of the universe, and stars and planets in their formative stages with unprecedented clarity.

An international collaborative effort to build and operate the world's most sensitive millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelength telescope, ALMA ultimately could consist of an array of up to 64 antennas, and an additional compact array supplied by Japan, all in Chile's Atacama Desert, 16,500 feet above sea level.

The sky above the site has the clarity and stability essential for the required level of imaging fidelity. The antennas will work together as one telescope to provide a spatial resolution 10 times higher than the Hubble Space Telescope.