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Primeras imágenes aéreas de ALMA en pleno funcionamiento
31 de Julio de 2013
Toda la magnitud del Observatorio ALMA se devela en estas nuevas y espectaculares imágenes del conjunto de antenas, rodeado de nieve en el llano de Chajnantor, localizado al norte de Chile. Las fotografías fueron captadas recientemente a través de una cámara instalada en un hexacóptero.
El vuelo, registrado como un récord mundial Guinness para aeronaves multi-rotor a gran altura, se logró gracias a la ligera plataforma de fibra de carbono de la nave controlada a distancia. El hexacóptero, que posee seis conjuntos de rotores, también cuenta con funciones autónomas que ayudan a la navegación y permiten que éste regrese a su punto de partida en caso de perder la señal.
"Antes de que llegáramos al sitio de ALMA no existía registro de que algún artefacto similar hubiese volado a tal altura. La baja presión atmosférica hace que la elevación generada por las hélices sea considerablemente inferior", afirma el fotógrafo Ariel Marinkovic, quien dirigió la sesión fotográfica.
La única solución era reducir el peso del hexacóptero tanto como fuera posible. Para lograrlo, se decidió retirar el armazón y el tren de aterrizaje, y reemplazarlos por una estructura más liviana. Además, se hizo uso de una pequeña cámara de apenas 200 gramos, reduciendo el peso total en 1,2 kilogramos.
Pero existía otro desafío: las bajas temperaturas (alrededor de -3 grados centígrados a 5.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar, donde se encuentran las antenas de ALMA) podrían hacer que el hexacóptero perdiese hasta el 70% de su potencia. Para evitarlo, se instaló un recubrimiento hecho de aluminio y tela térmica alrededor de sus baterías.
"Fue una verdadera apuesta: el hexacóptero estaba diseñado para volar a unos 4.500 metros por debajo de la altura del sitio de ALMA. Los cálculos realizados sugerían que no sería posible que despegara," recuerda Marinkovic. Sin embargo, sentía que valía la pena intentarlo: "en un viaje anterior a 4.200 metros sobre el nivel del mar, pude ver algunas gaviotas, y pensé que un ave no volaría en un lugar donde tuviese que usar el 90% de su energía sólo para encontrar su próxima comida".
Esta lógica resultó ser correcta y las primeras imágenes aéreas de ALMA, desde su inauguración oficial en marzo de 2013, fueron captadas con éxito.Este evento trae a la memoria el origen del nombre de Chajnantor, que para el pueblo atacameño (los habitantes originarios de la región) significa "lugar de partida".
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