With a billion Euros to spend, officials from the European Southern Observatory will speak to British companies at a unique event in London on Thursday, to encourage them to become involved.

Susan Haird, acting chief executive of UK Trade & Investment, said: "The prestige of working on a project as large and as ground-breaking as the E-ELT is invaluable.

"It is a fantastic opportunity to be associated with a project that will have a reputation as being as the forefront of science and technological advancement.

"The UK already has world-leading skills in project managing and constructing large-scale civil engineering projects and we also have great skills in optics so this is an enterprise that British companies really should be able to play a leading role in.

"This day long event will put British companies interested in finding out more in touch with senior decision-makers from the ESO."

The European Extremely Large Telescope, known as the E-ELT, will be constructed by the European Southern Observatory at Cerra Armazones, in Chile with construction scheduled to start next year. It will be begin operating early in the next decade.

The 42 metre wide E-ELT will have the task of tracking down earth-like planets, capable of harbouring life, orbiting distant stars.

Building the E-ELT will take more than optics. The telescope is a major civil engineering project and will involve steel fabrication, precision actuation and detector systems.

The event on Thursday is taking place at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel in London. It is jointly organised between UK Trade & Investment, the government's international business development department, the European Southern Observatory and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.