Saxony also wants to build the Einstein Telescope
After the border region of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and the Italian island of Sardinia, a third location is coming into the picture to build the Einstein Telescope. Saxony also wants to bring the telescope to this state in eastern Germany.
The future minority government of CDU and SPD in Saxony has expressed this ambition in the coalition agreement. This, incidentally, has yet to be formally ratified. The Einstein Telescope in Saxony should be built in the Lusatia region, not far from the border with the Czech Republic and Poland. As a first step, the future government of Saxony wants to finance further explorations in Lusatia to underpin a possible choice of this location as well.
In Saxony, the Einstein Telescope should join the new Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik (DZA), construction of which has recently started in that region. That DZA should be ready in 2026. In the current planning, regions that want to build the telescope should also have their bid book ready by that year.
North Rhine Westphalia
The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has backed the construction of the Einstein Telescope in the Euregio Meuse Rhine. Funds have already been made available from the NRW government in Düsseldorf to finance the current feasibility study. Most recently at the ministerial conference in Kerkrade (late October), NRW announced an additional €7.9 million. In addition, NRW has previously agreed to contribute substantially to the cost of the actual construction of the telescope in the region between Aachen, Maastricht and Liège. This is on condition that the federal government in Berlin also supports the bid and contributes to its construction.
Federal Germany
Regardless of where the telescope will be built, in late October (federal) Germany put the Einstein Telescope on the German list of promising scientific infrastructures, from which a choice of projects that should actually be realised will be made in Germany in the summer of 2025. If the Einstein Telescope would then be on that final list, it would then be up to the future federal government in Berlin to allocate a (construction) budget for it. Elections for a new German government are due in Germany in February.
Reaction
Scientific director Stan Bentvelsen of the project office Einstein Telescope EMR: ‘Saxony’s candidature has been hanging over the market for a long time and now seems to be getting more serious. It shows once again how important the Einstein Telescope is for the region where it will soon be built. From our project office Einstein Telescope in this Euroregion, we can really only take note of Saxony’s ambition. And above all continue what we are already doing here: soon deliver the best bid book based on the feasibility studies we are now in the middle of.’