New Scientist - USA (2019-07-27)

27 July 2019 | New Scientist | 5

THE construction of the Thirty

Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii

is facing big trouble. Many

indigenous people in Hawaii

say that the project to build an

enormous telescope atop the

dormant volcano Mauna Kea

is steamrolling their culture.

The TMT would be the most

powerful visible-light telescope

ever, producing images more than

12 times as sharp as those from

the Hubble Space Telescope.

But many native Hawaiians take

issue with its proposed location.

According to the Office of

Hawaiian Affairs, “Mauna Kea

is a deeply sacred place that is

revered in Hawaiian traditions”.

Some indigenous people in

Hawaii and others, including

many in the astronomy

community, have protested

against putting the TMT at the

summit of Mauna Kea since the

location was announced in 2009.

A series of legal challenges to

the project culminated in October

2018, when the Supreme Court

of Hawaii upheld its building

permit. Construction was

scheduled to begin on 15 July.

Last week, construction

companies tried to move their

equipment to the summit, but

hundreds of peaceful protesters

blocked the road.

On 17 July, 33 protesters were

arrested and Hawaii governor

David Ige declared a state of

emergency, authorising the

state to bring in the Hawaii Army

National Guard. The 13 existing

telescopes on the volcano have

evacuated their staff.

As New Scientist went to press,

more than 800 astronomers and

students had signed an open letter

denouncing the criminalisation

of protesters and the forceful

building of the telescope.

If the TMT isn’t built on Mauna

Kea, there is a backup site for it in

the Canary Islands, Spain.  ❚

The Thirty Meter Telescope could revolutionise our view of space,

but its volcano-top location is a problem. Leah Crane reports

Engineering

Deeper water wells

are unsustainable

THE US’s thirst for water

is encouraging a trend of

drilling ever-deeper for

groundwater, according to

an analysis of 11.8 million

wells across the country.

But the strategy is

unsustainable for reasons

including the price of

pumping such deep water.

Debra Perrone and Scott

Jasechko at the University

of California, Santa Barbara,

argue that in areas where

deeper groundwater wells

are the only option, water

quality must be protected:

in the past, wastewater has

sometimes been dumped in

such deep reservoirs (Nature

Sustainability, doi.org/

c8pz).  ❚ Adam Vaughan

The moon

Mission to lunar

pole takes off

INDIA’s second moon

mission is on its way.

After a short delay due

to a “technical snag” that

prevented lift-off a week

earlier, the Chandrayaan 2

mission launched on 22 July.

It is expected to touch down

near the moon’s south pole

on 7 September.

The expedition is more

advanced than India’s first

moon mission, and includes

a six-wheeled rover that

will trundle at about

1 centimetre per second

across the lunar surface

and study the chemical

make-up of the dust.

The accompanying lander

will also be able to study

moonquakes.  ❚ Leah Crane

Telescope protests

News

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Strange supernovae

Exploded stars

hint at exotic

new physics p

Ancient barbeque

Cooking 1.5 million

years ago may have

made us human p

Opioid crisis

US overdose deaths

have fallen, but don’t

celebrate just yet p

Our hungry home

The Milky Way

devoured another

galaxy p

Phantom mouth

Illusion messes

with our bodily

perceptions p

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RO

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LA

MY

All 13

telescopes

on Mauna

Kea have

been

evacuated