In May to June 2026 I travelled to Cerro Chajnantor in the Chilean Atacama Desert to help with the commissioning of the CCAT/FYST telescope, working on the pointing camera, weather station and networking infrastructure I had been developing back in Cologne as part of the German CCAT consortium.
At over 5,600 m altitude, the site is one of the most extreme places I’ve worked at and the highest site telescopes are operated at. In fact we are the second highest telescope in the world, only the TAO is a 50 meters higher, just a few steps up the road on Cerro Chajnantor. A medical check-up is mandatory before going to the site and twice per day on the high site. Supplemental oxygen is required at the telescope itself — even routine tasks take noticeably more effort and concentration up there. It’s a stunning, otherworldly place, and being able to work hands-on with the hardware at the actual site made it an unforgettable trip.