A massive telescope with a 100-foot mirror, which has been at the center of controversy between astronomers and Native Hawaiians, has been given the go-ahead for construction to begin on the island of Hawaii.
Approval was given to embark on the construction phase of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a giant observatory that will sit at the summit of the island's Mauna Kea volcano and peer into the farthest reaches of the universe.
The chosen site has been criticized by native Hawaiians who consider the volcano to be sacred ground and say any construction would desecrate the site.
The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources gave final approval to The TMT Observatory Corp., a consortium of universities developing the telescope, on July 25.
The master lease for the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, from which the sublease has been approved, is held by the University of Hawaii, which gave its approval in February.
"TMT has worked for many years to design an unprecedented telescope, but also to work with the community to incorporate respect for Mauna Kea in our stewardship," Gary Sanders, TMT project manager, said in a statement. "It is an honor and a privilege to now begin building our next-generation observatory in so special a place."
Work on grading the construction site will be undertaken to prepare for an October dedication ceremony, TMT officials said.
The project will create about 300 construction jobs and when finished the observatory will employ a staff of between 120 and 140 people, to be "drawn as much as possible from the Hawaii Insland's available labor pool', they said.
When finished, the TMT instrument will join several world-class astronomical facilitates on the volcano's summit, including the world-renowned 33-foot Keck telescopes.
The TMT will be three times as large as the Keck instruments, and is designed to make celestial observations in wavelengths from mid-infrared to near-ultraviolet.
TMT is an international collaboration, with input from institutions in the Unites States, Canada, China, Japan and India, with funding coming from a number of public and private organizations.
There are still hurdles to overcome, however; the project is currently only 83 percent funded, with $141 million donated by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for work to date on design, development and the construction phase.
The TMT group had originally considered five possible sites for construction of the giant telescope -- the Mauna Kea site, Baja California in Mexico and three sites in Chile -- before settling on the Hawaiian location in 2009.
