The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will be the largest ground-based telescope in the world. With a billion Euros to spend, officials from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) are encouraging British companies to be become involved.
“The prestige of working on a project as large and as ground-breaking as the E-ELT is invaluable,” said acting chief executive of UK Trade & Investment Susan Haird. “It is a fantastic opportunity to be associated with a project that will have a reputation as being as the forefront of science and technological advancement.
“The UK already has world-leading skills in project managing and constructing large-scale civil engineering projects and we also have great skills in optics so this is an enterprise that British companies really should be able to play a leading role in.
The E-ELT will be constructed by the European Southern Observatory at Cerra Armazones in Chile with construction scheduled to start next year. It will begin operating early in the next decade.
The 42m-wide E-ELT will have the task of tracking down earth-like planets, capable of harbouring life, orbiting distant stars.
UK Trade & Investment said that building the E-ELT will take more than optics as the telescope is a major civil engineering project and will involve steel fabrication, precision actuation and detector systems.
A day-long event is taking place today in London to put British companies interested in finding out more in touch with senior decision-makers from the ESO. It is jointly organised between UK Trade & Investment, the government’s international business development department, the European Southern Observatory and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
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