Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2006
The Concordia Station (Candidi 2003), on the AntarcticaPlateau, will soon become one of the best observatories to performinfrared observations in the 2–20 μm atmospheric windows andbeyond, thanks to its low sky background, low temperature andhigh atmospheric transparency. The possibility of passivelycooling the telescope is a further advantage. We describe herethe first permanent Antarctic infrared telescope, underdevelopment for the Dome C base. It is the InternationalRobotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT). We briefly outlinea few scientific motivations for it, then we review the technicalcharacteristics and the status of its development. The infraredcamera for IRAIT is described in another dedicated paper in thisvolume.