the Carnegie Institution for Science has enthusiastically endorsed the construction of the proposed Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). The GMT will be the first in the next generation of astronomical observatories. Larger and more powerful than any previous optical telescope, it will have ten times the light-gathering power of current ground-based telescopes and will produce images 10 times sharper than those from the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT will use the latest in Adaptive Optics technology to remove blurring caused by the Earth’s atmosphere to produce images with unprecedented sensitivity and clarity. The novel design of the GMT will combine seven 8.4-meter primary mirror segments resulting in the equivalent of a 24.5-meter telescope.