The Science and Technology Facilities Council has welcomed the granting of approval for construction to begin on the European Extremely Large Telescope.
Colin Cunningham, programme director for UK E-ELT, said that his project office was “very happy” that the project could now move into the construction phase, and that it offered “huge opportunities for both the UK astronomy community and UK industry”.
According to the STFC, the first phase of construction—manufacturing of the telescope itself—will cost approximately €1 billion (£785 million). The organisation says that the telescope will be able to produce images 16 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope.
This article is only available to Research Professional News subscribers or Pivot-RP users.
If you are a Research Professional News subscriber you can log in and view the article via this link
Pivot-RP users can log in and view the article via this link.