No decision has yet been made on where the Einstein Telescope will be built, but teams at the candidate sites are already conducting feasibility and preparatory studies. Lausitz in eastern Germany has now been officially accepted as a possible location, bringing the total number of candidate sites to three.
This was announced on the Einstein Telescope organisation’s website. Following their meeting in June 2025, the Einstein Telescope Board of Government Representatives (BGR) confirmed that Lausitz, Germany, is now considered an official candidate site for the Einstein Telescope. Lausitz is located in Saxony, near the Polish border.
Next generation
Einstein Telescope is a next-generation detector of gravitational waves from the universe, which scans the cosmos more deeply and accurately for signals from colliding black holes and neutron stars than existing instruments such as LIGO or Virgo. The ultra-sensitive telescope will be located underground and will need laser interferometer arms of approximately ten kilometres.
The announcement about the German location follows Lausitz’s earlier expression of interest in becoming an official candidate. Discussions and collaborations with the Lausitz team had been ongoing for some time. This confirmation by the BGR can be seen as a formal step towards fully including Lausitz in the procedures, alongside Sardinia and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.
Preparatory activities
Christian Stegmann, Director of Astroparticle Physics at DESY, will lead the team for the Lausitz candidacy. They will work on preparatory studies and activities necessary to support a (possible) candidacy for the Einstein Telescope in the region.
The activities include underground studies, economic impact studies and other feasibility studies, forming a host consortium, and securing funding and local, regional and national support for a bid. Like the teams for other candidate sites, the Lausitz team will investigate both possible geometries for the detector: the triangular shape and the L-shape.
Stegmann is enthusiastic about the prospect: ‘I am very pleased that Lausitz has been officially recognised as a candidate site for the Einstein Telescope. We are now studying existing geological data and knowledge about this area, and new studies are being carried out. This will enable us to make a solid contribution to the European process.’
Three serious candidates
With the candidacy of Lausitz in Germany, the total number of candidate sites now stands at three. The other locations are the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, the border region between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and the Sos Enattos area in Sardinia, Italy. All three locations are working on similar preparatory and feasibility studies, supported by regional and national governments.
What does this development mean for the Einstein Telescope? Fernando Ferroni and Andreas Freise, directors of the Einstein Telescope Organisation, explain: ‘It is very encouraging to see that three regions consider hosting the Einstein Telescope an interesting opportunity. And not only for science, but also for regional and national development,’ says Freise. Ferroni adds: ‘Of course there is competition, but it is in the best interest of the project to find the best location for the Einstein Telescope. Three serious candidates is a good thing!’
