Largest Camera Ever Built Arrives at Rubin Observatory in Chile: How Did They Ship It?

The 3200-megapixel LSST Camera, the heart of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, has finally arrived on Cerro Pachón in Chile.

The Trip of the Camera from California to Chile: Careful Planning and Testing

Starting in late 2025, this cutting-edge tool will make it possible to take the most complete picture of the sky in the southern hemisphere. But how did this massive piece of tech get from California to Chile, where it now lives?

A great deal of engineering and planning made the voyage feasible. The LSST Camera, which was completed at the Menlo Park, California-based SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, took twenty years to complete.

The world's largest digital camera is about to be mounted on the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Rubin Observatory. It will take detailed pictures of the full moon with seven times the field of view.

Shipping the LSST Camera, which is over five feet (1.5 meters) across and weighs over three tons, required careful planning. The camera was put on a special shipping frame to start the trip and wrapped in materials to protect it from water and static electricity.

The frame was then put inside a 20-foot shipping container that had been carefully modified to keep the camera stable. The container had insulation and secure clamps.

In 2021, the LSST Camera team sent a mass simulator with data loggers to Chile as a full-dress practice to ensure the transport went flawlessly. This test revealed a lot about the camera settings during the trip.

A mechanical engineer at SLAC named Margaux Lopez stressed how dangerous it is to ship such fragile equipment worldwide. But they were sure they could keep the camera safe because they had done it before and had data from the test shipment.

The Long Way to the Top

The camera was taken to San Francisco International Airport on May 14, 2024, and put on a Boeing 747 cargo plane for a 10-hour trip to Chile. When it reached Arturo Merino Benítez Airport in Santiago on May 15, it was moved to a group of nine cars for the last part of its trip.

The convoy moved slowly to the gate with guards at the base of Cerro Pachón. They got there in the evening.

The following day, the truck with the camera started its 21.7-mile drive up a twisting dirt road to the top, with pilot and tail cars following behind. The careful trip, which kept the camera safe, took about five hours. When they got to the telescope, they unloaded the camera into a secure area so they could look at it.

Kevin Reil, a scientist at Rubin Observatory, said their goal was to ensure that the camera made it and arrived in perfect shape. The first data from the accelerometers, data loggers, and shock monitors show that their work succeeded.

Now is a New Time for Astronomy

When the LSST Camera arrives, it will be a big deal for the Rubin Observatory. This camera will make the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a ten-year study that will take a wide picture of the southern sky every few nights and list about 37 billion objects, possible.

Scientists can use this information to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomena that occur in space, including dark matter and dark energy.

According to Victor Krabbendam, the Rubin Observatory's project manager, installing the camera on the mountain was the final and most critical component. Rubin is nearly finished constructing the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Once all of its components are in place, significant scientific discoveries will be feasible.

The LSST Camera's long, careful trip from California to Chile showed the dedication of the scientists and engineers. This amazing new technology will change our view of the world completely. It will start to work at the Rubin Observatory.