WIREDGOV

British companies are being urged to bid for a share of a billion Euros that are available in contracts on what will be the biggest optical and infrared telescope in the world - the European Extremely Large Telescope (link opens in a new window)(E-ELT).

A special event has been held in London (19 May 2011) where officials from the European Southern Observatory (link opens in a new window) (ESO) have been briefing companies on what they need to do to get involved. Around 60 UK businesses attended the event.

ESO has a billion Euros to spend on contracts with construction at Cerro Armazones in Chile due to begin next year and completion due early in the next decade.

The E-ELT which will be 42 metre wide will have the task of tracking down Earth-like planets, capable of harbouring life, orbiting distant stars.

Building the E-ELT will take more than optics. The telescope is a major civil engineering project and will involve steel fabrication, precision actuation and detector systems.

The STFC has jointly organised the event with UKTI. STFC allows UK astronomers access to ESO's telescopes through a subscription. John Womersley, STFC's Director of Science Programmes, and UK delegate to ESO Council said: "We are excited about the world class science capability that the E-ELT will deliver for UK astronomers, but we also understand that we have to be able to explain to UK taxpayers why we should invest in such a large new science facility now, when money is very tight. It's important to us that UK industry is involved to the project, so that the impacts in terms of jobs and high technology coming to the UK are clear, and there are some great opportunities here."

Susan Haird, acting chief executive of UK Trade & Investment, said: "The prestige of working on a project as large and as ground-breaking as the E-ELT is invaluable.

"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 event has enabled British companies with an interest in bidding for contracts to have direct contact with senior decision-makers from the ESO. Companies who were not able to make the day but who want to find out more can contact:

Dr Robert Pfab
Industry Liaison Officer to ESO
STFC
Tel: +44 (0)131 668 8260

Further information

Images

Images of the E-ELT are available in ESO's image archive (link opens in a new window).

Contacts

• James Clements
  Press Officer
  UK Trade & Investment
  Tel: +44 (0)20 7215 2491
   
• Lucy Stone
  Press Officer
  STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  Tel: +44 (0)1235 445 627
  Mob: +44 (0)7920 870 125