The troubles faced by what has been billed as the world’s most advanced telescope have prompted the Canarian government to issue a call to bring the massive instrument to the islands.
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is planned to be built on Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii and, when completed, would be the largest visible-light telescope on the world-renowned site.
The telescope is the brainchild of the TMT International Observatory, a consortium currently comprising the California Institute of Technology, University of California, the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan, the Department of Science and Technology of India, and the National Research Council of Canada.
However, it has been permanently plagued by problems, not least fierce opposition by the native Hawaiian community for whom the land earmarked for the facility is considered sacred. A series of protests were staged when the plans were first announced a decade ago, halting the construction work by blocking the roadway, and further protests have hit the construction of the telescope.
Now there are fears that it may not ever get off the ground due to the announcement by US President Trump that his administration will not help fund the $1.4-billion project, preferring to direct money to the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile instead of TMT.
The announcement has been seized upon this week by the Canarian government, which is urging all political parties here to lobby the Spanish authorities to launch a joint offensive to persuade the consortium behind the TMT to switch to La Palma’s Roques de Los Muchachos Observatory instead.
Although less favoured by the scientific community, La Palma was the consortium’s second choice and a strong message from Spain that it is prepared to host the state-of-the-art facility could prompt an immediate rethink to ensure the TMT project can move forward.
The Roque de Los Muchachos is situated on the rim of the Taburiente National Park, at 2396 metres above sea level, and already boasts one of the largest arrays of telescopes in the world. It currently hosts the planet’s largest optical-infrared telescope, along with twenty other telescopes and instruments for various kinds of studies, including nocturnal observations, robotic observing, solar physics, and high energy astrophysics.
Securing the telescope would represent a massive coup for the La Palma observatory, further cementing its place as a leading player in the astrophysics research community, and would also bring in a massive injection of revenue for the island, with initial estimates suggesting that supplies and staff needed for the project could generate up to 25 million euros for the island initially.
Photo: Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma)
