Portuguese companies win contracts to build the world's most advanced optical telescope

It has already been called "the world's largest skyward-facing eye". In fact, the E-ELT ( European Extremeley Large Telescope) will have a main mirror 39 meters in diameter and the capacity to collect 13 times more radiation than the largest optical telescopes in existence. The E-ELT will also be able to correct for the effects of atmospheric distortion and produce images 16 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. The E-ELT will take nine years to become operational, with the first observations expected in 2024. Construction of this ambitious telescope will begin in 2016, and in the Call launched by the ESO for Phase 1, two Portuguese entities stood out among international competitors, to secure contracts worth a cumulative 1.5 million euros.

A CRITICAL Software, a software solutions development company, and the ISQa private entity that provides inspection, testing, engineering, training and technical consultancy services, have just signed contracts with the ESO for 3 years, with an option to extend to 9 and 10 years, respectively.

CRITICAL Software's proposal beat 12 others, submitted by companies from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Chile. ISQ's proposal was the best ranked of five submitted by similar organizations from Spain and Germany.

With this contract, CRITICAL Software will provide independent software validation and verification (ISV&V) services for the E-ELT program. The tasks envisaged include the analysis of software requirements for the telescope's control systems and the preparation and execution of manual and automatic tests, among others. ISQ will ensure the verification of materials, parts and final products through independent audits, surveillance, tests and inspections, in order to support ESO in the Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) of construction and assembly, with the manufacturers of the most critical structures and systems.

The activities of both will take place in the assembly, integration and verification phases, in several European countries, in Brazil and at the E-ELT construction site on Cerro Amazones, a mountain about 3,060 meters high on the Atacama desert plateau in Chile. With this powerful "eye", the international astronomical community will be able to study the greatest scientific challenges of our time - the search for extrasolar planets similar to Earth, the measurement of the properties of the first stars and galaxies and the nature of matter and dark energy.

According to Pedro Carneiro, vice-president of FCT, the organization that represents Portugal on the ESO Council, "The success of CRITICAL Software and ISQ demonstrates the international competitiveness of our industry and the close monitoring of the Portuguese delegation to ESO."

"This is excellent news for ESO, for Portugal and for FCT, ISQ and CRITICAL Software. ESO will benefit from the experience, professionalism and dynamism of two entities that have excelled internationally in sectors traditionally dominated by companies from more developed countries in terms of technological and organizational capacity," says Paulo Chaves, ISQ's Business Leader.

For Paulo Guedes, Business Development Director of CRITICAL Software, "We are delighted to have been selected to build the world's most advanced optical telescope together with ISQ. This is unequivocal international recognition of the quality of the work of both ISQ and CRITICAL Software, which over the years has excelled in extremely demanding areas and markets."