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The ELT Design Study is a technology development programme
conducted by institutes and companies in Europe, Israel and
Australia, coordinated by ESO. It is funded in part - about
one third - by the European Commission under its Framework
Programme 6, the rest being provided by the participating
institutions themselves. Parallel studies in the same areas
are pursued for other projects, in particular on the North
American continent, and close ties are maintained to avoid
unnecessary duplication.
The study covers the development of enabling technologies
and concepts required for the eventual design and construction
of a European extremely large optical and infrared telescope.
To this end, it builds on existing European design studies,
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 spans the period
2005-2008. It covers 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,
- the development of metrology systems and control schemes
for segmented, active telescopes,
- the development and testing of advanced materials and
processes for the serial production of mirror segments,
- the development and testing of low-cost drive systems
for the telescope kinematics,
Included are also
- site characterization,
- exploratory instruments designs,
- an assessment of the performance of a segmented aperture
exposed to wind on a representative site.
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