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posted by takyon on Wednesday June 26 2019, @02:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the high-ground dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Divisive giant telescope cleared for construction on Hawaiian peak

Last week, the state of Hawaii gave astronomers a green light to begin to build the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which would rise on the volcanic peak of Mauna Kea as one of the largest telescopes in the world. Project leaders say they are set to begin construction after a 4-year delay caused by sit-down protests and court challenges from Native Hawaiians opposed to structures on a site they consider sacred. But some astronomers worry the threat of disruptions and even violence will persist.

"These are passionate people," says Richard Ellis, an astronomer at University College London who helped develop the TMT concept. "They know that once it gets going their case is weaker." Others say the project should do more to engage with the protesters. "We need to talk with people who disagree with us," says Thayne Currie, an astrophysicist the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, who works on Japan's Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea.

Although legal barriers are now removed, opponents say they can still try to block access to the road that leads up to the 4200-meter-high summit. "What other tools do we have, apart from having people arrested in large numbers?" asks Kealoha Pisciotta, founder of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, one of the main opposition organizations. In 2015, 1000 protesters gathered on the mountain, but "there are way, way more people involved now," she says. The astronomers "may have won in the courts, but they haven't won the moral high ground."

Previously: Protests Temporarily Halt Thirty-Meter Telescope's Construction in Hawaii
Hawaiian Court Revokes Permit for Construction of Thirty-Meter-Telescope
Thirty Meter Telescope Considering Move as Hawaii Officials Open Hearing
Canary Islands Chosen as Backup Site for the Thirty-Meter Telescope


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:34PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:34PM (#860204)

    There are about 3 different uses that make some sense:

    1. telescopes
    2. wilderness tourism
    3. rocket launch site

    Those are all incompatible. The area already has some telescopes, so I think we've made our choice.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 27 2019, @03:02AM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday June 27 2019, @03:02AM (#860364)

    so I think we've made our choice.

    Well, yes. Some non-Hawaiians have made a choice.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:43PM (#860624)

      This is why multiculturalism doesn't work.
      You can't have unity when people divide themselves on easily identified tribal lines: race, ethnicity, language, whatever.
      There has to be an indisputably dominant group for society to be stable.