Shipping Update: NAS on the Ground!

The NAS and all the W-unit and VisAO electronics landed in Chile early on Tuesday morning. The first part of MagAO has now arrived in Chile!

Our other big news is that the ASM – meaning the thin shell itself and the ‘unit’, which means the reference body and attached electronics – has left Arcetri and is on the way to the airport in Firenze. This process will take a few days for customs etc. The pictures below, courtesy of Armando Riccardi, show the final stages of packing the ASM and loading it on a truck.

Our mirror is swinging through the air! This is the "small box", containing the 85cm wide by 1.5mm thick thin shell of our adaptive secondary mirror.
The "large box" being loaded on to the truck. The "small box", shown above, is packed inside this box. This system is carefully designed to protect our delicate mirror during the flight.
Here we see the reference body and electronics being readied for packing in their shipping box.