This article reviews recent progress in observational determination of the properties of dark matter on small astrophysical scales, and progress towards the European Extremely Large Telescope. Current results suggest some surprises: the central DM density profile is typically cored, not cusped, with scale sizes never less than a few hundred pc; the central densities are typically 10-20GeV/cc; no galaxy is found with a dark mass halo less massive than $sim5.10^7M_{odot}$. We are discovering many more dSphs, which we are analysing to test the generality of these results. The European Extremely Large Telescope Design Study is going forward well, supported by an outstanding scientific case, and founded on detailed industrial studies of the technological requirements.
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