Redaelli reaches for the stars

In the vicinity of the Le Dévoluy ski resort, the official inauguration took place on 2 October 2015 of the new “Pic de Bure” cableway for IRAM - the Institute of Millimetric Radio Astronomy - a joint French / Spanish / German undertaking based in Grenoble.

The new cableway built by the LEITNER France Company for IRAM, will provide quick access all year round to the NOEMA observatory, located at an altitude of 2,550 m on the vast, isolated Plateau de Bure. Its 4040 m length makes it the longest two-way cableway in France.

The difference in altitude is 1061 m and makes it possible to transport 15 people, plus 6000 kg on the special vehicle built to transport material required for living and developing the observatory.

For this extraordinary project, Redaelli supplied n° 4 x 42 mm diameter FLC loadbearing cables, 8550 metres of Redmont 6K 32 mm dia. traction cable, and 8550 metres of 25,4 mm dia. Redmont 6K rescue cable - in all 34,700 m galvanised steel cable, with an overall weight of 230 tonnes.

Impressive figures for an important project: With its current n° 7 x 15 m diameters aimed at heavenly bodies that emit radio signals, such as the stars, black holes, and galaxies, the NOEMA observatory makes it possible to explore the invisible Universe, in the quest to find its origins and evolution.  The construction of another five antennas will make the NOEMA observatory the most powerful in the Northern Hemisphere by the end of 2019.