Dive Brief:
-
Builders broke ground on the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano Tuesday, despite delays caused by protestors with concerns about the project’s environmental impact.
-
In the works since the 1990s, the observatory will house a giant telescope that will allow scientists to study the universe from a distance of about 13 billion light years.
-
The telescope’s creators say it will be the most powerful such device in the history of the world.
Dive Insight:
The project has pit scientists and builders against native Hawaiians, who consider the summits of mountains on the Big Island of Hawaii sacred. The location was chosen because of its 14,000-foot elevation. But protestors, who blocked the road leading to the groundbreaking ceremony, have said the project’s developers did not take their cultural concerns into consideration.