Astaldi is the winning bidder for construction of the largest telescope in the world

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Astaldi Group informs that the Consortium ACe, comprising Astaldi and Cimolai, with EIE Group, is the winning bidder for the design and construction of the “Dome and Main Structure” of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the largest ground-based telescope in the world.

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The Finance Committee at ESO (European Southern Observatory) authorized ESO to enter into final negotiations with the Consortium ACe with the aim of achieving signing of the contract in May 2016. All details will be defined and disclosed subsequent to signing of the contract.

The Consortium ACe comprises Astaldi (65%, leader) and Cimolai (35%), with EIE Group, an international leader in management, design and production in the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The E-ELT will be the most important project to date approved by ESO and will result in the construction of the largest ground-based telescope to date. The new telescope will be built in Chile on the Cerro Armazones, in the central part of the Atacama desert at an altitude of 3,000 metres above sea level. It will have a focusing capacity that is 100,000,000 times greater than the human eye and will gather more light than all of the most important telescopes to date on the planet, which have primary mirrors measuring 8 to 10 metres in diameter compared to the 39.3-metre diameter of the new E-ELT.

Render E-ELT

E-ELT render image

The new contract consolidates Astaldi's presence in Chile where the Group has operated for approximately 10 years, including as a Concessionaire in the transport infrastructures, mining and hydroelectric plants and healthcare construction segments. It has built and currently operates a hydroelectric plant (Chacayes, 111MW) and a mining plant to recover metal from sludge (Relaves); it operates and is modernising the largest airport in Chile (Arturo Merino Benitez in Santiago, 15,000,000 passengers/year); it is constructing and will operate a healthcare complex of national standing (West Metropolitan Hospital in Santiago, 599 hospital beds). As regards the Construction sector, it is involved in performing works to expand the CODELCO Chuquicamata mine, the largest open-pit mine in the world to date.

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Last updated: Sep 06 2016