For the Einstein Telescope an installation will be built underground, which will be used to research gravitational waves in the future. Before that, there will be experiments with the technology that will end up in the telescope. This takes place in the Maastricht lab ETpathfinder at the Duboisdomein (the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering).
Last November 2021, Ingrid van Engelshoven (former Minister of Education) opened the lab; the first part, one of the towers, had arrived then. The ETpathfinder is not only from Maastricht University; there is collaboration with various institutes, including universities in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef and companies. Read an earlier interview with Prof. Stefan Hild about the ETpathfinder and the Einstein Telescope.
With the National Growth Fund, the cabinet is allocating a total of 6.3 billion euros for 28 projects; these are investments that should contribute to sustainable and structural economic growth. Additional steps will have to be taken for 1.3 billion of this before a final decision follows.