photo credits ESO
At Cimolai, innovation arises from the meeting of engineering and scientific curiosity, industry and research.
Operating in the aerospace sector means placing the company’s expertise at the service of knowledge, collaborating with research bodies, universities, and scientific institutions to create infrastructure supporting international astronomical and space observation.
Building the “eyes” that explore the universe—large-scale telescopes—means giving shape to innovation: transforming engineering into discovery, mechanics into knowledge, and human work into wonder.
Creating instruments capable of looking far into space means contributing to a future that is more aware, more curious, and ultimately more human.
The starry sky reminds us every day how far human ingenuity can go.
With this vision, Cimolai is building the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the largest optical telescope ever built for visible and infrared light, designed to observe, measure, and understand the cosmos.
Equipped with a 39-meter primary mirror and cutting-edge scientific instruments, the ELT will offer an unprecedented range of research possibilities.
Located at an altitude of 3,064 meters on Cerro Armazones, in the Chilean Andes, the telescope, currently under construction, will be operated by ESO (European Southern Observatory), based in Paranal.
Italy’s contribution to the development of the large Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory in the Chilean desert is tangible: exploring the universe at very high energies through the observation of gamma rays is a goal that is now taking shape.
Coordinated by the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), with the collaboration of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the Universities of Bologna, Bari, Siena and Palermo, and the Polytechnic University of Bari, the project involves the construction of two Large Size Telescopes.
With a diameter of 24 meters and a weight of almost 100 tonnes each, the telescopes will be able to orient themselves rapidly and reach any point in the sky in just a few seconds. They will be installed at the southern site of the CTA Observatory, in the Chilean desert.
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