Moving a multi-ton space machine

As the UW Space Place prepares for a late-June move to Villager Mall, it faces the daunting task this week of relocating its star attraction: an enormous space observatory weighing several thousand pounds.

The move, which occurs all day on Wednesday, June 1, is likely to provide many photo opportunities during the late morning and afternoon. The UW Space Place is located at 1605 S. Park St.

As the outreach arm of the UW–Madison astronomy department, UW Space Place has long exhibited an exact replica of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO-2). Launched in 1968, OAO-2 was the world’s first true general purpose space observatory, able to observe any desired object in space. The UW Space Place model served as a functional backup to the OAO-2, designed during the 1960s by UW–Madison and Harvard University scientists.

Stretching eight feet wide and 12 feet high, the aluminum and magnesium observatory is equipped with solar panels to energize the spacecraft for orbit. It also features a star tracking system that enables the machine to scan the galaxy observing rare events such as star explosions and falling comets.

Moving the historical artifact is the most complicated part of the UW Space Place’s impending move. Heavy machinery will break concrete walls, forklift the observatory out of the old facility, and transport it on a truck one-mile down the road. Once the metal observatory arrives at the Villager Mall, workers must again break multiple windows and walls to lower the OAO-2 into the bottom level of its new home.

Although moving the OAO-2 is a complicated operation, the spacecraft provides a valuable and unique educational resource to the local community, according to UW Space Place Director Jim Lattis. For more information, contact Lattis at (608) 263-0360, lattis@sal.wisc.edu.