ESOcast 66: A Groundbreaking Event for the E-ELT

On 19 June 2014, a major milestone for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) was passed. Part of the 3000-metre peak of Cerro Armazones, the future site of the telescope, was blasted away as a step towards levelling the summit. This new ESOcast tells the story of the blasting, the associated groundbreaking ceremony and the future prospects of the E-ELT.

The ESOcast also shows spectacular views of Cerro Armazones, the E-ELT’s future home in the Atacama Desert, the explosion itself and explains the necessity to flatten its top to construct the telescope. This blast was only the first of several steps in this process. The first civil works at Cerro Armazones started in March 2014 and are expected to take 16 months. These works include the laying of a paved road, the construction of the summit platform and the construction of a service trench to the summit.

A groundbreaking ceremony, to celebrate the blast, took place 20 kilometres away at ESO’s Paranal Observatory — site of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The ceremony was attended by several VIPs from ESO Member States and Chilean authorities as well as by ESO staff. Parts of the ceremony also feature in this ESOcast.

More episodes of the ESOcast are also available.

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