A report of activies carried out by the project during the last 6 months is provided, with emphasis on the efforts to set up an interim legal figure for EST and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The aim of the Preparatory Phase (PP) of the European Solar Telescope (EST) is to provide a detailed plan regarding the implementation of EST, aiming at delivering the necessary information to make decisions, addressing both technical and organisational issues as well as costs and risks analysis. The PP is leading the detailed design of EST key elements to the required level of definition and validation for their final implementation.
To achieve its goals, the PP of EST is supported by: (1) the PRE-EST H2020 project, (2) funds from the Regional Government of the Canary Islands to install, equip and recruit the EST Project Office personnel, (3) funds from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to test the EST MCAO and to develop the EST design and (4) the annual contributions provided by the EAST partners from Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. The progress made so far was satisfactorily assessed by the European Commission, which declared that the consortium is demonstrating its relevant role towards the realization of EST.
The EST Board has chosen a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) as the most appropriate legal vehicle for EST. The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation shall initiate the negotiations with the corresponding EST partners authorities. The EST ERIC statutes and governance structure have been defined.
Actions to set up a EST Board of Governmental Representatives have been carried out but is not established yet. The lack of a direct involvement of the potential funders in the governance scheme of EST has been identified as an issue and a larger and permanent involvement of potential funders will be pursued. In the meantime, a Board of Directors has been established. Its second meeting took place on December 10, 2020.
In parallel, the project has decided to also explore the viability of an interim legal figure formed by individual institutions, as a way to continue the works leading to the EST construction.
The Czech 2019 Roadmap update prioritised the project EST-CZ to ensure the participation of CZ in the construction and operation of EST. The UK Roadmap includes EST in its recent 2019 update as a priority project for understanding the universe with ground-based observational astronomy. The Swiss Roadmap 2019 update set EST in the category of infrastructures in which Swiss institutions have shown an interest.
The EST Project Office is currently set up with a team of 29 people and is working, jointly with the EST Science and Technical Advisory Groups, to: (1) update the scientific and technical requirements; (2) consolidate the conceptual design or modify it where necessary; (3) define subsystem specifications for the preliminary design; (4) set the EST preliminary design and (5) define the specifications for detailed design and fabrication, updating the cost estimates and construction schedule.
The EST Science Requirement Document is consolidated by now and a proposal to the International Scientific Committee of the Observatorios de Canarias (CCI) to consider a location near the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on La Palma has been presented. An intensive communication activity at societal, scientific, industrial and political level has been carried out. The EST communication strategy has been evaluated by the EU as remarkable.
COVID-19. On 14th March 2020, the Spanish government approved the declaration of state of emergency throughout Spain to deal with the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This state was extended until June 21st. The Royal Decree 463/2020 declaring the state of emergency included the suspension of conditions and interruption of deadlines for administrative proceedings under way. Moreover, it set a number of limitations on the freedom of movement of citizens which also affected the working conditions. Similar measures were adopted by the governments of other EST partners at regional as well as national level.
The negative impact of this situation motivated the request by the EST coordinator to activate article 51 (Force Majeure) of the Grant Agreement. As a consequence, the project may seek an amendment for an extension of up to 6 months due to the COVID-19 situation. Such requests will be handled favorably and in a speedy manner by the EC. However, the maximum grant amount cannot be increased.
The lockdown mainly affected the call for tenders for the preliminary design of the main subsystems of EST. The process was reactivated in June and it is currently in the contract award phase.