Museum of the Atacama Desert, Antofagasta, Chile

"Future Projects" is the title of the last panel of the ESO permanent exhibition "A window to the Universe", installed at the Museum of the Atacama Desert (Museo Desierto de Atacama, MDA), in Antofagasta (II Region of Chile). The MDA is built on the levelled area in front of the Huanchaca Ruins, the remains of a silver foundry from the beginning of the 19th century. The museum, which contains unique collections, presents to the visitor the whole history of the Atacama Desert, from its geological formation up to the present times, when it becomes an important site for ground-based astronomy. The II Region of Chile is currently home to the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). On this same region is located the selected site for the planned Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the world’ s largest eye on the sky. The exhibition "A window to the Universe" was designed and donated by ESO as a contribution to the Region of Antofagasta.