Editing Submillimeter Array (section)

== History ==
The SMA project was begun in 1983 as part of a broad initiative by [[Irwin Shapiro]], the then new director of the SAO, to produce high resolution astronomical instruments across the electromagnetic spectrum.   Initially the design called for an array consisting of six antennas, but in 1996 ASIAA joined the project and funded the construction of two additional antennas and the expansion of the correlator to accommodate the near doubling of the number of interferometer baselines.   Sites considered for the array included [[Mount Graham]] in Arizona, a location near the South Pole, and the [[Atacama Desert]] in Chile, but Mauna Kea was ultimately chosen due to its existing infrastructure, the availability of a fairly flat area for array construction, and the potential to include the JCMT and CSO in the array.   A receiver laboratory was established at the SAO's Cambridge location in 1987.
<ref name="ho">{{cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=T.P. |last2=Moran |first2=James M. |last3=Lo |first3=Kwok Yung |title=The Submillimeter Array |journal= The Astrophysical Journal|date=28 October 2004 |volume=616 |issue=1 |pages=L1–L6 |doi=10.1086/423245 |arxiv=astro-ph/0406352 |bibcode=2004ApJ...616L...1H |s2cid=115133614 |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/423245 |access-date=9 November 2020}}</ref>

The antennas were constructed at [[Haystack Observatory]] in [[Westford, Massachusetts]], partially disassembled and trucked across the United States, then shipped by sea to Hawaii.   The antennas were reassembled in a large hangar at the Mauna Kea summit site.

The SMA was dedicated and began official operations on November 22, 2003.