Hawaii’s loss might have turned out to be the huge gain for India, as a new gem might get added to the list of the scientific achievements that India currently holds, the country may become the host to the world’s largest telescope project. The project, aimed at exploring the universe, was to come up at Mauna Kea in Hawaii. But protests by the locals and indigenous population have stalled the project. The reason for the cancellation of the project was that the land on which the telescope has to come is considered sacred for the community residing there.

"The construction was expected to start on Mauna Kea, Hawaii in 2015. However, it is now stalled due to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Hawaii revoking the construction permit on procedural grounds. The State of Hawaii agencies are working on the permit process following the prescribed procedure by the court. TMT is pursuing the matter in consultation with the University of Hawaii (land lease holder) and other agencies. It seeks to construct TMT on Mauna Kea which is the preferred choice," said Bacham Eswar Reddy, Programme Director.

"It is expected that on-site civil work on the project may be delayed by about 18-24 months. However, work on telescope and observatory subsystems continue across the partnership," Reddy added.

"The project is expected to improve employment opportunities for the local people besides development of the region. TMT being the largest optical and infrared telescope in the northern hemisphere will strengthen the domestic program of the country in this field and lead to several discoveries, which will inspire future generations. The project will also help to develop state-of-the-art high end technologies and expertise in the country," an official of Ministry of Science and Technology said.

TMT board started looking for alternatives that ended on Ladakh in a couple of months. In the upcoming few weeks, the international inspection team will be coming to visit Ladakh. The country’s Indian Astronomical Observatory is also developing the edge sensor actuators and system support assemblies apart from the software support to TMT.

India is expected to invest about $212 million in the TMT project and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bengaluru and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune are already being working on TMT project for around 3 years showing their active involvement.

By Premji