Things are looking up

The Commission goes for star power.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has often spoken of the need for Europe to launch initiatives to boost innovation. 

Generally, this is taken to mean that Europe should invest in things like ‘green’ technologies and ICT for the elderly. It appears, however, that the EU has been entertaining more far-sighted notions – including building a ‘European Extremely Large Telescope’ (E ELT).

The Commission and member state governments hope that the size of the E ELT will leave the US et al green with envy. Its primary mirror will indeed be extremely large – 42 metres in diameter, making it the largest optical telescope in the world.

Preparations for its construction have been under way in the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), an intergovernmental body made up of 14 member states and Switzerland, since 2005. The project was endorsed by the Commission in 2006 and receives funding from the EU’s framework research programme.

Recently, the telescope has loomed into view because a European argument has erupted over where to locate it.

Chile, where ESO usually bases its telescopes, risks fading into the background as MEPs are zooming in on basing the facility in European territory. The Parliament’s industry committee has called for the telescope to be based in La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. “La Palma perfectly fulfils the conditions as regards clear astral nights, location, time zone, seismic activity, facilities for researchers and reconciliation of work and family life,” a draft of a letter from MEPs to the ESO says.

Homing in on La Palma was the brainchild of Gabriel Moto Adrover, a Spanish centre-right MEP representing (yes, you guessed it) the Canary Islands.

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