On Wednesday, 23 September, the works handover document was signed, marking the official start of construction of ET-SUnLab (Einstein Telescope Sardinia Underground Laboratory), the research centre that will be built in the Sos Enattos area, which is a candidate site to host the future Einstein Telescope gravitational-wave observatory.
The company awarded the construction contract, following a European public tender, is AR.CO.LAVORI Società Cooperativa Consortile, based in Ravenna. The handover of the works includes two deadlines: an interim deadline set for September 4, 2027, which aims to make some of the research center’s laboratories immediately operational, and a final deadline set for June 14, 2028.
ET-SUnLab is funded with approximately €10 million by the Sardinia Region with an additional €10 million jointly provided by the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). On 15 December last year, an agreement was signed in Cagliari granting INFN, INAF and INGV free use of the 13,000-square-metre area where the research centre will be built. The land, owned by IGEA S.p.A., was subsequently made available to the three institutions. On 17 July, a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony was held at Sos Enattos, attended by Sardinia Regional President Alessandra Todde and the presidents of INFN, INAF and INGV, Antonio Zoccoli, Roberto Ragazzoni and Fabio Florindo.
The project involves the construction of a research, education and scientific outreach centre in the area currently occupied by the former RI.MI.SA. building. which was used in previous years for the activities of the SAR-GRAV laboratory, as well as the construction of a multidisciplinary underground laboratory. SUnLab, whose activities will also involve the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari, will host research and development activities for ET and low-noise physics experiments, including Archimedes, a fundamental physics experiment that has been operating at Sos Enattos since 2019. The centre will also host a geophysical observatory dedicated to studying Earth’s internal structures and a large-aperture ground-based telescope called “MezzoCielo”. The facility will also become a reference centre for science outreach projects aimed at schools and for professional training activities. The architectural and landscape design was developed by a team from the AT Lab of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (DICAAR) at the University of Cagliari, coordinated by Massimo Faiferri.