ACA (Atacama Compact Array) antenna (nicknamed “IZAYOI”) development team received the “Space Frontier” award from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) Space Engineering Division on March 29, 2012.
The team has developed 16 high-precision ACA antennas for ALMA, a part of which are already in use for actual observations at the Array Operations Site (AOS) at 5000 m asl. The team was awarded for making the antenna array with high collecting capacity at unprecedented high frequencies and high-precision driving performance, which contributed to the progress of the Japanese space science.

The picture shows Masato Ishiguro, a professor emeritus at the NAOJ, making a commemorative speech at the awards ceremony. [Photo provided by JSME]