UKELT: The next generation instrumentation suite for the Extremely Large Telescope

The UK is designing the next generation of instruments for the world's largest ground-based telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in Chile. These instruments—a multi-object spectrograph (MOSAIC), a high-resolution spectrograph (ANDES), and a planetary camera and spectrograph (PCS)—will give astronomers entirely new capabilities. They will allow scientists to scan the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars for chemical signatures of life, and to test whether the fundamental constants of physics have changed over cosmic time. Current telescopes cannot do this work. This is fundamental science. It will not directly improve a mobile phone or a power grid. The project addresses open questions about our place in the universe and the laws that govern it. Past fundamental astronomy research has led to unexpected breakthroughs—for example, the development of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) for telescopes later became the core of digital cameras and medical imaging. Deeper understanding of exoplanet atmospheres or physical constants could similarly seed future technologies, though that is not the immediate goal.