Submitted by Eleni Soumpourou on Mon, 27/07/2026 - 09:47
Nature Astronomy paper details innovative mountain-based design; KICC member Jaco de Swart co-leads the project’s interdisciplinary approach
A bold new neutrino observatory proposed for the Peruvian Andes is set to open a clearer window on the highest-energy particles in the universe. The Tau Air-shower Mountain-Based Observatory (TAMBO) will use the natural geometry of a deep mountain valley to detect elusive tau neutrinos with exceptional purity. The detailed concept appears this week in Nature Astronomy.
Unlike ice- or water-based detectors, TAMBO places thousands of sensors across one face of a canyon. When a high-energy tau neutrino interacts in the opposite rock wall, it produces a tau lepton that emerges into the valley and decays, creating an air shower the sensors can record. This approach sharply reduces the overwhelming background of atmospheric particles that limits other observatories.
KICC member Jaco de Swart, a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, is co-leader of the interdisciplinary grant supporting the project and heads its responsible siting effort. With funding from the John Templeton Foundation, de Swart and colleagues are embedding social science from the outset—working closely with local communities and researchers to assess environmental and social impacts and to build genuine partnerships.
“With support from the John Templeton Foundation, we are able to uniquely integrate social science into the project, rethinking how we want astronomers and local communities to work together,” de Swart says.
The Colca Valley is the leading candidate site. A prototype array, TAMBITO, is already under construction, with the full observatory planned for completion in 2028. In Quechua, tambo means “inn”—a resting place for messengers. TAMBO aims to become a resting place for cosmic messengers carrying news from the farthest reaches of the universe.
