The University of California San Diego (UCSD) has announced grants totaling $30.3 million from the Simons and Heising-Simons foundations to complete construction of the Simons Observatory in Chile.

Grants of $28.8 million from the Simons Foundation, established by James and Marilyn Simons, and $1.5 million from the Heising-Simons Foundation, formed by their daughter and son-in-law Liz Simons and Mark Heising, will help complete construction of the high-altitude observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert designed to enable astronomers to investigate cosmic background radiation, explore the nature of dark matter, and learn how gravity gave structure to the universe. The observatory, funded previously by the foundations in 2016, is expected to start operations in 2024. Both couples are Giving Pledge signatories.

“The Simons Observatory holds the transformative power to discover secrets hidden in the cosmic tapestry, revealing the mysteries of the universe with unparalleled precision,” said UCSD chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “[The grants will support] our search to answer fundamental questions about the scientific origins of the universe and expand the global impact of our $1.64 billion research enterprise.”

(Photo credit: Wikimedia/Simons Observatory: Mark Devlin)