Ka Leo o Nā Koa
Volume X
Issue 4
May 8, 2015
A1
Groups target Mauna Kea TMT By KAINALU STEWARD features writer Mauna Kea. Sound familiar? It should, it’s been all over the news. Mauna Kea, also known as Mauna A Wākea has attracted a lot of attention lately due to the impending construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on it on Hawaiʻi Island, otherwise known as Moku O Keawe. The TMT project would be 18 stories high, and the telescope alone would take up 34,000 sq. ft. of the 5 acres set aside for astronomical research. It is estimated to take between eight to ten years to complete. It is a powerful development with construction on halt for now.
Purpose “The TMT telescope will provide extremely sharp images that will allow astronomers to see much fainter and more distant objects than possible with existing telescopes, and to study them in greater detail. This represents the possibility of pushing our vision farther into space and our understanding farther back in time to help answer fundamental questions about the universe. It is very likely that TMT will enable discoveries that we cannot even begin to anticipate today,” said Jocelyn Collado, the account director for
Photo from TMT.org
A digital illustration givea an idea of what the Thirty Meter Telescope would look like. If built, the telescope would sit atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island and take up 34,000 sq. ft. in the astronomy section of the mountaintop. TMT in an email interview. Many countries ranging from the United States to China, India and Japan and organizations including educational institutions, research facilities, and government bodies have invested in this immense project. One of the big supporters of TMT includes the University of Hawaiʻi. And recently, in April of 2015, the Prime Minister of Canada announced $243.5 million funding towards TMTs $1.4 billion project, mak-
ing Canada a full member of the project. Although a lot of people in the state and around the world are in support of furthering knowledge and education, many Native Hawaiian groups and even non-natives are protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on what they say is a sacred site. “What you (TMT supporters) have chosen is the wrong place, wrong time, and wrong people!”
said Kahoʻokahi Kanuha, at the UH Board of Regents testimony gathering in Hilo, April 16, 2015. Kanuha is one of the leaders of the Mauna A Wākea movement. To some, Mauna A Wākea is a sacred temple, and they consider it a kupuna or ancestor. There is much history behind it that connects it to the people of Hawaiʻi, including its ties to Wākea, the original father of all Polynesians, also known as the sky father. The TMT continued on A2
37 Lifers........................A8
Girls Tennis....................E3
Alo................................E1
Protest
INDEX:
NEWS........................A1 SENIOR MAP..............A6 ‘ĀHA’ILONO................B1 LIFE...........................C1 OPINION....................D1 SPORTS......................E1 SPORTS WRAP.............E3