Deep inelastic scattering at the TeV energy scale and the LHeC project

The prospect of an ep collider involving an LHC proton beam and a new electron accelerator is discussed. Configurations reaching centre of mass energies a factor of 5 beyond HERA are possible with luminosities of the order of 1033 cm−2s−1. The physics programme with such a facility is surveyed and possible machine and detector lay-outs are sketched.