Canada to Provide $243.5 Million towards Thirty Metre Telescope Project

Late Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Canada will provide up to $243.5 million over a decade for the Thirty Meter Telescope project.

Experts affirmed that by around 2023, the most powerful optical telescope on earth will start exploring the distant reaches of the galaxy and beyond. Once the telescope is made, it will be in an observatory inside a Canadian-built enclosure.

The telescope will be present at the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. The US$1.5 billion telescope is expected to be operational by 2023-2024. The amount committed by Mr. Harper is equivalent to 15 to 20% share in the project.

Majority of the money will be spent in Canada only, like in the observatory's 56-metre tall movable steel dome, which would be built by Dynamic Structures Ltd. of Port Coquitlam, B. C. It would cost around $150 million and the company has already developed a designed for the dome.

The enclosure's design is such that it will protect the telescope from both temperature and winds. Canada will also provide the telescope's adaptive optics, which will allow the correction of atmospheric turbulence in order to clearly view some of the faintest celestial objects and bodies.

Ray Carlberg, a professor of astronomy at the University of Toronto and the project's Canadian director, said that it is great news for Canadian astronomy and for Canadian science.

As per Mr. Harper, by contributing to the project, Canada has secured a viewing share for Canadian researchers once it becomes operational. "Our participation in the Thirty Meter Telescope project will generate new capabilities and technologies in Canada which will help create and maintain high-quality jobs in communities across the country", said Mr. Harper.

The telescope promises sharper images than the Hubble space telescope, said the University of British Columbia.