Projects

The ELT Design Study project covers the development of enabling technologies and concepts required for the eventual design and construction of a European extremely large optical and infrared telescope, with a diameter in the 50- to 100-m range. To this end, it builds on existing European design studies, on leading industrial and academic expertise in the relevant fields, and gathers resources across the European academic and industrial communities for a preparatory effort on crucial components, subsystems and concepts.

The technology development programme which is the subject of this project will cover relevant design and technology aspects underlying the feasibility of giant telescopes. As such, it includes, most notably, the development and testing of advanced adaptive optics technologies and concepts, of metrology systems and control schemes for segmented, active telescopes, as well as the development and testing of advance materials and processes for the serial production of mirror segments, of low-cost drive systems for the telescope kinematics. Site characterization, exploratory instruments designs, and an assessment of the performance of a segmented aperture exposed to wind on a representative site are also included.

The project shall support the eventual preliminary design of a 50- to 100-m class European optical/near-infrared telescope, followed by construction with a target start of science operation in the 2015 timeframe. To this end, the Design Study will focus on:

• Developing and testing design-independent enabling technologies and concepts, emphasis being put on those developments deemed performance- or cost- critical, and potentially time-consuming.
• Preparatory work for preliminary/detailed design and far-reaching project decisions, e.g. modelling tools, site selection, operation modes.