The selection of where to build a 4300 tonnes 50m telescope with all its support structure has lead to the identification of a preferred site inside the Atacama Astronomical Park, as well as an additional site near the APEX telescope.
I will briefly present how we reached this conclusion in the last few years, and outline the remaining work to be done in the next 3 years. This includes a statistically sound determination of the diurnal and seasonal variations of the wind speed, which is a critical factor to operate such a large telescope without the protection of a dome.
We will also look into the determination of the turbulence created by the wind, and into a more detailed analysis of the soil on which the AtLAST infrastructure will need to be built.
