ESPRESSO: the Echelle spectrograph for rocky exoplanets and stable spectroscopic observations

ESPRESSO, the Echelle SPectrographfor Rocky Exoplanetsand Stable Spectroscopic Observations, will combine the efficiency of modern echelle spectrographdesign with extreme radial-velocityprecision. It will be installed on ESO's VLT in order to achieve a gain of two magnitudes with respect to its predecessor HARPS, and the instrumental radialvelocity precision will be improved to reach cm/s level. Thanks to its characteristics and the ability of combining incoherently the light of 4 large telescopes, ESPRESSOwill offer new possibilities in various fields of astronomy. The main scientific objectives will be the search and characterization of rocky exoplanetsin the habitable zone of quiet, nearby G to M-dwarfs, and the analysis of the variability of fundamental physical constants. We will present the ambitious scientific objectives, the capabilities of ESPRESSO, and the technical solutions of this challenging project.