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This desolate expanse stands as one of the most unwelcoming environments on the planet—a desert virtually untouched by human presence. Yet, amid this harsh terrain, an extraordinary feat of engineering is underway, destined to become a marvel in its own right. At the summit of a mountain rising 10,000 feet above sea level, in the heart of Chile’s Atacama Desert, construction is progressing on the world’s largest telescope. Towering 40 meters taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this colossal instrument, once completed, will allow us to observe distant planets in our universe up to 5,200 times closer than the human eye can see.
Its images will be 15 times sharper than those captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The construction of the world’s largest telescope in such an arid and unforgiving landscape is truly an extraordinary achievement. After Antarctica, the Atacama Desert is the driest region globally, featuring areas that have never experienced even a single drop of rain in recorded history. This telescope will peer back in time to glimpse the universe’s earliest galaxies, stars, and planets. It will also aid scientists in discovering Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.
The challenges faced by the construction team at this high-altitude, unforgiving site—roughly the size of a football field—have been immense.
Spanning more than 1,000 kilometers along the Pacific coastline of South America, Chile’s Atacama Desert is recognized as the driest region on Earth after Antarctica. Its unique landscape reveals volcanic formations and vast salt flats spanning thousands of square kilometers, shrouded in a rare, persistent fog known as camanchaca. Despite being home to some of the harshest conditions, where water, the foundation of all life, is almost entirely absent, this unique location has become the site of a groundbreaking scientific endeavor. Some regions have never recorded a single rainfall, making the Atacama a near-alien environment, so much so that the European Space Agency chose it to test their Mars rover.
Located 1,300 kilometers from Santiago, Chile’s capital, and about 130 kilometers from the nearest town, the telescope is perched on a mountain 10,000 feet above sea level. This ambitious project, led by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), aims to give humanity an unparalleled view of the cosmos.
Known as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), this telescope’s construction is not yet complete, but even now it’s clear why it has earned its name. It will feature an enormous primary mirror with a diameter of 39 meters—four times larger than any existing telescope mirror. This mirror will collect light a hundred million times more efficiently than the human eye, capturing details that were once unimaginable.
To protect this delicate instrument from dust, it will be housed under a massive steel dome weighing approximately 6,000 tons—the equivalent of 2,400 pickup trucks. This dome will feature enormous doors that remain closed during the day, standing tall enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside, with an interior footprint comparable to a football field.
The telescope is mounted on a high-tech platform capable of rotating 360 degrees, enabling it to scan any part of the night sky. Starting construction in such a remote location, with no roads, electricity, or water nearby, posed significant logistical challenges. After extensive scouting across Europe, the Atacama was selected due to its exceptional qualities.
The ESO chose this site because it offers near-complete darkness free from light pollution—a major problem in urban areas where artificial lights drown out the stars. Additionally, clear skies are essential for astronomical observations, and the Atacama’s dry climate means over 320 clear nights annually.
However, building the telescope’s foundation on the steep, rocky mountain was an engineering nightmare. The peak had to be leveled by blasting away 100 meters of rock and soil—the equivalent volume to fill 1,911 Olympic-sized swimming pools. After leveling, engineers faced the problem of sinkholes caused by fractures in the mountain’s core from the blasting.
Innovative techniques involving vibration and drilling were used to stabilize the ground, successfully filling these sinkholes and securing the foundation. Since the region is seismically active, the telescope’s dome is supported on hydraulic shock absorbers that isolate it from earthquakes, protecting the sensitive mirror and equipment inside.
By 2023, the foundation was complete, and the dome’s steel structure was fabricated at a base camp and transported piece by piece up the mountain using remote-controlled trucks. The dome sections were assembled like giant LEGO blocks.
The primary mirror is composed of 798 precisely engineered segments that work together to capture and amplify light from distant cosmic sources. Powerful lasers create artificial stars in the upper atmosphere, enabling the telescope’s adaptive optics system to correct for atmospheric distortion in real-time. This technique sharpens the images, allowing unprecedented clarity.
Beyond its sheer size, the ELT will enable groundbreaking discoveries, including capturing direct images of exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—potentially capable of supporting life. By analyzing their atmospheres, scientists can search for water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, or even signs of pollution indicating biological activity.
Thanks to the fixed speed of light, the telescope can also look back billions of years in time, observing the universe’s infancy. While the Hubble Space Telescope can peer back 13.4 billion years, the ELT’s vast mirror will see even further—up to 13.5 billion light-years away, nearing the moment of the Big Bang.
Currently, the ELT’s construction cost is estimated at around 1.6 billion USD, comparable to the cost of building the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa. Experts expect the project to be completed by 2029.
Once operational, this telescope could help answer humanity’s most profound question: Are we alone in the universe, or is there life on distant Earth-like planets across the cosmos?