After many months of hard background work, finally, I am delighted to share with the UK Solar Community an excellent news about the European Solar Telescope (EST) project. The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) triennial evaluation process has now concluded, and EST has successfully achieved ESFRI Landmark status. EST will therefore be included as an ESFRI Landmark in the new ESFRI Roadmap, which is due to be officially launched in December 2026.

This news represents now a major milestone for EST. Achieving ESFRI Landmark status is an important recognition of the scientific excellence, maturity and progress of the project towards implementation, as well as of its strategic relevance within the European research infrastructure landscape. It also provides a stronger basis for our ongoing discussions with national funding authorities like STFC/UKRI, European institutions and prospective partners as we move towards the construction phase.

Reaching this milestone is the result of many years of excellent work by a large number of people and institutions in the UK and across Europe. I would particularly like to thank members of the UK Universities Consortium (UKUC), for their dedicated support, contribution and for the work colleagues have been carrying out at their respective institutions when trying to find our ways forward in the legal mists to support and advance EST. This outcome reflects that collective effort. The current UKUC members and supporters are: U. Aberystwyth, Durham, Exeter, Glasgow, QUB, Sheffield, MSSL/UCL and RAL. UKUC, represented by Sheffield, is a former founding member of the European Solar Telescope Canarian Foundation (EST-CF or Foundation in short) that is the legal framework of EST.

There is, of course, still a great deal of work ahead of us. Landmark status does not, in itself, secure the construction of EST. To put it in mathematical terms, achieving this status was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition. Nevertheless, this result confirms the progress made by the project and places EST in a significantly stronger position from which to address the remaining challenges.

Congratulations to everyone involved, and thank you again for your continued commitment to EST.

Robertus (EST-FC Exec Cttee)
On behalf of UKUC