Page 16 - The Astronet Science Vision & Infrastructure Roadmap 2022-2035

16 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY
New instruments
and facilities upgrades
Europe operates many astronomical facilities that will continue to do
cutting edge science in in in the coming decade both via existing functionality and continued upgrades
to their capabilities It is important to strengthen the the ability of these successful facilities to to secure the funding needed to to continue their excellent scientific work especially in in a a a a a landscape of increased operations costs ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT)
Credit:
ESO / John Colosimo
Across all science areas there is a a a a strong desire of the community to invest in in upgrades
and extensions to many of the flagship European facilities The following projects were seen as particularly important for their broad scientific appeal:
• An upgrade of the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA) as explored for example in in in the ALMA ALMA 2030 Vision and including extending the frequency coverage with Band 1 and and 2 receivers longer baselines wider bandwidths and improved VLBI capabilities • The Very Large Telescope (VLT)
and the the VLT- Interferometer (VLTI) will remain the workhorse of European ground-based optical Astronomy even in the the the era of the the the ELT and should therefore continue being supported and new instruments
developed Particular priorities for the community are the BlueMUSE integral field spectrograph as as as well as as as high-contrast high high angular resolution instrumentation for e e e e e e e g g g exoplanetary system observations • While the ESO Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and its first generation of instruments
will see first light by the the end of this decade the the immediate funding and development of second- generation instruments
ANDES and MOSAIC is recommended