Canada finally commits its share of funds for Thirty Meter Telescope

Canada will pay nearly $250 million over the next decade to help build the world's largest telescope.

The federal government will give up to $243.5 million over the next 10years toward the ThirtyMeter Telescope (TMT), Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday. The TMT will be built in Hawaii, at the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano.

• World's largest telescope stalled by Canadian funding woes
• Read more about the Thirty Meter Telescope
• Listen to a protester explain why they're against the TMT
• Big Science: Thirty Meter Telescopes on Quirks &Quarks

The telescope, which is expected to be operational in 2023-24, will cost an estimated $1.5 billion US.

Five countries are funding the project. The United States, Japan, India and China have all already committed funds towards its construction.The project was initiated by the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy. Observatories and institutions in China, India and Japan later signed on as partners.

Canada had promised to contribute $200 million towardthe project years earlier. Butthe government stalled approving that funding, and the telescope's future wasuncertain.

With the funds now approved, the government money will be spent in Canada, creating jobs in the telescope's construction and assembly, Harper said.The telescope was designed by PortCoquitlam, B.C.-based firm Dynamic Structures Ltd., which will also construct the device before shipping it to the Mauna Keasite.

Canada's investment will alsosecure a viewing share for Canadian researchers once the telescope is operational.

Canadian sources have already contributed $30 million to the project over the past several years. Most of the money came from the National Research Council and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Won't be world's largest for long

The telescope would be used to observe planets that orbit stars outside our own solar system and would enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars forming. It should help scientists see some 13 billion light years away for a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

The telescope's segmented primary mirror would be nearly 30 metres in diameter. The world'scurrent largest optical telescope, the Gran Telescopio Canariaslocated on Spain's Canary Islands, is a 10.4-metre telescope with a segmented primary mirror.

Compared tosmaller scopes, the TMT's large aperture will collectmore light, allowing images of fainter objects. It will be able to reach further into the universeand see more clearlyby a factor of 10 to 100 depending on the observation, according the project's website.

If built, however, the TMT isn't likely to hold the title for the world's largest telescope for long. A group of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which will have a mirror that is 39 metres in diameter.

The E-ELTwill be built atop a Chilean mountain, Cerro Armazones, in the country's Atacama Desert. Construction of the road and platform started early last year, according to the project's website. The earliest the telescope will be operational is 2024.

Opposition stages protests

Some Native Hawaiians oppose theTMT project because they believe it would defile asummit they consider sacred. Last week, 12 Native Hawaiianswere arrested after trying to block the road leading to the mountain's summit during a protest.

CBC'sAs It Happensspoke with one of the protesters who was not arrested. More protesters were at the site the next day, she said.Native Hawaiians are not opposed to telescopes or astronomy, she said, but to them being built on their sacred mountain.

Environmentalists say the telescope would harm the rarewekiubug.

The telescope will pay over $1 million a year for use of the land once it is fully functional, University of Hawaii at Hilochancellor Donald Straneyhas said.

Eighty per cent of those fundswill go to the Office of Mauna Kea Management, which preserves the natural, cultural and recreational resources of the mountain while providing a centre for astronomy, research and education.