The Cherenkov Telescope Array, or CTA, is a multinational, worldwide project to build a new generation of ground-based gamma-ray instruments in the energy range extending from some tens of GeV to about 300 TeV.

[1] Building on the technology of current-generation ground-based gamma-ray detectors (MAGIC, HESS, and VERITAS), CTA will be ten times more sensitive and have unprecedented accuracy in its detection of high-energy gamma rays.

An intergovernmental agreement for construction and subsequent operation of the observatory—a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)—is in preparation, and the financial threshold is expected to be reached in 2019.

[4] As of December 2018, the CTA consortium includes more than 1,420 members from 210 institutes in 31 countries: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and the United States.

[11] Research at the CTA will seek to address questions in and beyond astrophysics that fall under three major themes of study: understanding the origin and role of relativistic cosmic particles, probing extreme environments, and exploring frontiers in physics.