Tension Tarp SOARs

by Freda Parker

High atop a 9,000-foot Chilean mountain, technicians and scientists from Brazil, The University of North Carolina, Michigan State University and NOAO (US National Optical Astronomy Observatories) have been working on a project called SOAR.

According to NOAO (www.ctio.noao.edu/soar) SOAR has a unique goal: "...to build the best 4-meter telescope in the world, with state of the art optics, mechanics and instrumentation, permitting SOAR to obtain images of the quality which this superb site is capable of producing."

The project began in April 1998 with site clearing. Two years later SOAR was ready to begin building the telescope silo and assembling the telescope. But before that could begin, the site had to be protected from the constant winds, often reaching 50 mph, blowing across Cerro Pachon Mountain.

SOAR called Monolithic Airforms and ordered a tension tarp, made of the same polyurethane vinyl fabric used for dome Airforms. Based on information from SOAR, Monolithic Airforms designed and manufactured a 16-sided structure with a 60-foot diameter, seat belt webbing around its perimeter, a reinforced top, and a two-foot skirt with a wire rope sleeve.

Once installed over the telescope silo, the tension tarp allows SOAR to continue constructing the world's newest, most advanced celestial observatory. This $28 million international project is slated for completion in July 2002.

Tension Tarp SOARs

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