On Wednesday, September 23, the delivery document was signed, marking the effective start of construction of ET-SUnLab (Einstein Telescope Sardinia Underground Laboratory), the research center that will be built in the Sos Enattos area, a candidate for the future Einstein Telescope gravitational wave observatory.
The company awarded the construction works, which won the contract following a European tender, is AR.COWORKS Società Cooperativa Consortile, based in Ravenna. The project has two deadlines: an intermediate one, set for September 4, 2027, which aims to make some of the research center's laboratories immediately operational, and a final one, set for June 14, 2028.
ET-SUnLab is funded with approximately 10 million euros by the Sardinia Region and the same amount divided between the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). On December 15th of last year, the concession for free use of the 13.000-square-meter area designated for the construction of the research center, owned by IGEA spa, was signed in Cagliari to INFN, INAF, and INGV. The symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place at Sos Enattos on July 17th, in the presence of the President of the Region, Alessandra Todde, and the presidents of INFN, INAF, and INGV, Antonio Zoccoli, Roberto Ragazzoni, and Fabio Florindo.
The project involves the creation of a research, teaching and scientific dissemination centre in the area currently occupied by the building ex-RI.MI.SA., used in recent years for the SAR-GRAV laboratory, and the construction of a multidisciplinary underground laboratory. SUnLab, in which the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari will also collaborate, will host research and development for ET and low-noise physics experiments (including Archimedes, a fundamental physics experiment active since 2019 at Sos Enattos), as well as a geophysical observatory for the study of Earth's internal structures and a large-aperture ground-based telescope called "MezzoCielo." The facility will also become a reference center for outreach projects aimed at schools and professional training. The architectural and landscape design was developed by a working group from the AT Lab of the Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture (DICAAR) of the University of Cagliari, coordinated by Massimo Faiferri.
