Today, 10 October, the Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, David Lucas, visited the facilities of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma), accompanied by the Observatory's administrator, Emilio García, and the island director of the State Administration, Ana María de León.
The visit took place after the start of the meeting of the European Union's Directors-General for Housing, which was chaired by the Secretary of State and held at the Roque de los Muchachos Visitors' Centre. The conference of the most senior officials responsible for European housing policy forms part of the agenda of activities of the Spanish Presidency of the Council.
During his tour, he visited the Roque de los Muchachos scientific facilities. Among other things, he was able to see the efforts being made at this research centre and the projects that are about to be implemented, such as the three new Cherenkov telescopes as part of the LST project.
The aim of this visit was to promote knowledge of the reality of the scientific activity of the ORM and to find out about the centre's transport infrastructure needs. As Emilio García pointed out, from the IAC "we are grateful for the visit of the secretary, with whom we share the importance of improving the road infrastructures for access to the Observatory, which will benefit the development of astrophysics on La Palma and attract investment for the installation of new telescopic equipment".