The Silicon Carbide focal base plate for ODI arrived in Tucson. Actually, we ordered two identical plates. The 64 science detectors and two focus CCDs will mount onto this core part of ODI. The surface of the plate is flat to within 10µm, or about a tenth of the thickness of a human hair! This flatness is required to guarantee that all detectors will be in the telescope's focus and images are sharp in all areas of the image.

ODI base plate made of silicon carbide. The size of the rectangular area is about 40cm x 40cm.