While more than half the segments with their supports have now arrived in Chile, most other segments are either en-route or packed and ready to be shipped, with a remaining few in production. This means that, in the coming months, all segments will be in Chile.
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📷 ESO/A. Russell
@esoastronomy how much do the segments weigh? Is there a whole series of customized handlers and lifting gantries/carts perhaps for moving them around?
@ottaross Each segment weighs 250 kg, including the supports. And yes, we have a segment manipulator specially designed to handle this. It will be mounted on a crane that can position it directly above the desired segment. This segment will be then pushed above the rest and grabbed by the manipulator. We're currently testing this device at our headquarters in Germany, stay tuned... ;-)
@esoastronomy nice! Thank you for the background info!
@esoastronomy Bonjour, quand est-ce que le ELT pourra fonctionner ? est ce qu'il pourrait faire de l’interférométrie avec le VLT ?
@DessiniFab Hi! The first observations with a test camera are planned for 2029, and the first observations with the actual scientific instruments for late 2030.
The ELT and the VLT won't work together interferometrically, but some ELT instruments will (independently) complement the capabilities of the VLT Interferometer.
@esoastronomy Merci ^^
@esoastronomy you make it sound so simple.
@Bart_amsterdam We hope that means that we explained it in an accessible way :-) But it's indeed a very complex process. If you want to learn more about the journey these segments go through, here's a useful explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-s_UZePP_Q