The European Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) made the decision in July 2018 to promote the Cherenkov Telescope Array (see 2018 ESFRI Roadmap). The status of CTA was changed from the Project status to Landmark status. Our project was one of eight projects promoted to the current list of 37 Landmarks.

CTA was first included on the roadmap in 2008 and subsequently it is on it. CTA provided supporting documentation to report on the project’s status and progress toward fulfilling key requirements in 2017. After the evaluation by the ESFRI Working Group on Implementation, CTA was granted the status of ESFRI Landmark in the ESFRI Roadmap 2018.

“We are delighted and honoured to be granted the Landmark status by ESFRI,” said CTAO Managing Director, Federico Ferrini. “This high level of support is just further confirmation for everyone involved in CTA that we are building a world-class facility that will revolutionize what we know about the Universe.”

“This will coincide with the start of construction of a gamma-ray observatory that will be a world reference at very-high energies for the next 30 years,” said Gabriel Chardin, Chair of the CTAO Council.

The ESFRI Roadmap 2018 will be officially presented to the public in a dedicated event, under the Austrian Presidency, on 11 September 2018 at Aula der Wissenschaften in Vienna.