The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope will become the third observatory removed from Mauna Kea by the time the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope is complete.
Guenther Hasinger, director of University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, said there is no timeline yet for its decommissioning but noted the 36-year-old observatory could be studying the universe for another “six or seven years.”
The giant TMT, which is facing opposition from Native Hawaiians who consider the mountain sacred, would be finished in the mid-2020s, assuming construction is able to resume.
In response to protests that have stalled construction, Gov. David Ige called for a quarter of the 12 telescopes on the summit to be removed prior to TMT’s completion.
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Hoku Kea telescope were the other two identified for decommissioning.
CSO stopped operating in September and could be gone in about two years, Hasinger said. It already was expected to be removed by 2018 prior to Ige’s announcement.
The Hoku Kea structure, which houses a broken 0.9-meter teaching telescope, likely will be removed earlier. UH-Hilo officials are currently seeking a location off the mountain to build its replacement.
UH took over UKIRT from the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council last year following the agency’s announcement it would cease funding its operations. While owned by the university, operational costs are covered by the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin, which uses the telescope to study space debris.
The university also took over ownership of another former Great Britain observatory, the James Clerk Maxwell telescope. It’s now operated by East Asian Observatory.
While he considers UKIRT to be the second most scientifically productive telescope in the world (the Keck telescopes would be the first), Hasinger said it was selected as the third observatory to come down because it already was expected to be removed sometime before UH’s master lease for the mountain expires in 2033.
Still, he said it wasn’t an easy decision for him or others at the university to make.
“We really bent over backwards to keep those alive,” Hasinger said, regarding UKIRT and JCMT. “For us, it’s an extremely hard decision to let one of them go.”
Removing the telescopes will require individual decommissioning plans approved by the Office of Mauna Kea Management, Kahu Ku Mauna advisory group, and the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
The cost for removing UKIRT and restoring the site has been estimated at $2 million to $3 million. Hasinger said the U.K. science agency provided the decommissioning funding when the university took it over.
The extent to which the site could be restored remains to be seen.
The telescope shares a pu‘u with four other observatories, including the Hoku Kea.
Damage to pu‘u as a result of telescope construction has been a major issue for Hawaiian cultural practitioners who consider the summit one of Hawaii’s most sacred sites. To some, the damage might be irreversible.
“From a cultural perspective, there are many Native Hawaiians who have commented that once a site or pu‘u has been developed it can never be fully restored as the mana (divine power) of the site has been destroyed forever,” UH’s Mauna Kea comprehensive management plan states.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said the sites will be restored to the extent feasible. None of these three telescope sites will be recycled.
While the university still seems far from bridging the gap with the Hawaiian community, Meisenzahl defended the university’s stewardship of the mountain, though he acknowledged mistakes have been made.
He expects conversations regarding management and finding a balance between scientific research and protection of cultural resources to continue even as the TMT partners try to find a way to move forward.
“We have to prove that we’re worthy of caring for the mountain and we’re up to that challenge,” Meisenzahl said.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
