Name of the Project
European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project.

Location
Cerro Armazones has been selected as the baseline site for the E-ELT. The Cerro Armazones mountain, about 3 060 m high, is located in the central part of Chile’s Atacama desert, about 20 km from Cerro Paranal, home of the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope.

Client
ESO.

Project Description
The E-ELT is a revolutionary scientific project for a 40-m-class telescope that will enable scientists to answer many of the most pressing unsolved questions about the universe. The E-ELT will vastly advance astrophysical knowledge by enabling detailed studies of planets around other stars, the first galaxies in the universe, supermassive black holes and the nature of the universe’s dark sector.

The E-ELT will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world and will gather 13 times more light than the largest optical telescopes existing today.

The telescope will be fully steerable, with integrated wavefront control. The optics will be mounted on an altitude azimuth telescope main structure, with two massive cradles for the elevation motions and azimuth tracks. The main structure will weigh an estimated 2 800 t.

The optical design differs from other ELT designs as it includes adaptive optics into the telescope. The E-ELT will be able to correct for atmospheric distortions – fully adaptive and diffraction-limited – from the start, providing images 16 times sharper than those from the Hubble space telescope. This optical layout will comprise five mirrors – a three-mirror anastigmat, with two flat-folding mirrors providing the adaptive optics. This novel design results in exceptional image quality, with no significant aberrations in the 10-arcmin field of view. Two Nasmyth platforms are accommodated by the structure, at either side of the rotatable telescope. Each platform is about the size of a tennis court and can host several instruments.

Several designs were considered for the telescope enclosure, but a rather classical dome design was preferred.

Jobs to Be Created
Not stated.

Value
Construction costs have not been disclosed, but the ESO previously said that the project would cost about €1.1-billion at 2012 prices.

Duration
The E-ELT is planned to start operations as an integrated part of the Paranal Observatory in 2024.

Latest Developments
Construction on the project started on May 29.

On May 22, the ESO awarded a multimillion-euro contract to Teledyne e2v to design and produce a set of large visible sensor modules to use on the E-ELT. The ELT will use highly sophisticated adaptive optics systems, which will enable it to adjust to changes accordingly in the atmosphere above it. These systems will require sensors of the highest quality.

Each sensor, with a size of 800 × 800 pixels, will employ Teledyne e2v’s renowned CMOS technology. Their extreme sensitivity and fast response will permit the ELT’s adaptive optics systems to make tiny adjustments about 700 times a second to compensate for variations in the earth’s atmosphere. This will ensure that the resulting astronomical images of exoplanets, distant galaxies and everything in between will benefit from the highest resolution possible.

The contract will last for four years and will be undertaken over two stages. In the initial phase, sample sensors will be designed and manufactured to demonstrate proof of concept. Then, a total of 28 sensors will be manufactured at Teledyne e2v’s site in Chelmsford, in the UK, most of which will be installed in planned ELT instruments, with others being deployed when needed.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Teledyne e2v (design and production of large visible sensor modules).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
ESO, email information@eso.org.