Astronomers say site will offer unparalleled view into deep space, but many Native Hawaiians fear it will desecrate the site

Dozens of people have been arrested on Hawaii’s Big Island this week after hundreds of protesters stood, lay and even chained themselves to structures in an effort to stop the construction of a billion-dollar space observatory at the summit of Hawaii’s tallest mountain.

The protests are the culmination of longstanding controversy over the site of the proposed observatory atop Mauna Kea, the highest point in the Hawaiian islands.

Astronomers say the site will offer an unparalleled view into deep space. But many Native Hawaiians consider the mountain sacred, and fear the construction of a telescope as tall as an 18-story building would desecrate it.

At 13,796ft above sea level, Mauna Kea is higher than the clouds and so cold it sometimes snows. Protesters have been blocking the only road that leads to the construction site atop the mountain, where about a dozen large telescopes have already been built. The new proposed observatory, known as the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), would be among the largest in the world.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People who are against the construction of a Hawaii telescope block the roadway to the top of Mauna Kea on Thursday. Photograph: Hawaii DLNR/AP

The current unrest dates back to 2014, when construction on the telescope first began. A protest at the groundbreaking ceremony attracted the attention of celebrities such as the actor Jason Momoa, who is part Hawaiian. In 2015, construction was halted by the Hawaii governor, David Ige, following the arrest of 31 protesters. Then in 2018, the state’s supreme court ruled the construction legal, and Ige has said he supports building the telescope.

On Monday, as many as 500 protesters gathered at the base of the road leading up Mauna Kea in an attempt to block construction vehicles heading up the mountain to begin work. In the early morning hours while the sky was still dark, eight protesters dressed in winter clothes locked themselves to a cattle guard that crosses the road, preventing vehicles from moving past.

“Our goal is to protect Mauna Kea,” said Kahoʻokahi Kanuha, an organizer from the Hawaiʻi Unity and Liberation Institute (Huli), a group that opposes construction on Mauna Kea, who was reached by phone at the protest site. “What that means is that we do not allow the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope for that’s what would desecrate our mountain.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An illustration shows the proposed giant telescope on Mauna Kea. Photograph: Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)/AP

The Native Hawaiian-led movement is fighting to protect spiritual and environmental aspects of the sacred mountain. Mauna Kea is associated with Wākea, the sky father, who partnered with Papa, the earth mother, to birth Native Hawaiians. The mountain is home to the endemic wēiku bug and Lake Waiau, an alpine lake that some Hawaiians visit to offer a newborn’s umbilical cord.

Kanuha mentions that Mauna Kea is on “crown lands”, which belonged to the Hawaiian kingdom before it was overthrown in 1893. Many Native Hawaiian organizations argue that these lands were stolen by the United States and still belong to the Hawaiian people. “These lands were taken from us, so we have rights to them,” he says “We have a spiritual connection to them. We have a genealogical connection to them.”

Mauna Kea has been a site for telescopes since the 1960s because of a combination of desirable geographical factors: it’s the tallest mountain in the Pacific; its isolation means there is less light pollution; and its close proximity to the equator makes both hemispheres viewable.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Activists lay chained to a cattle grate blocking a road at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain on Monday. Photograph: Caleb Jones/AP

Joseph Ciotti, an astronomy professor at Hawaii’s Windward Community College, says he has “found nothing that compares with the pristine viewing conditions on Mauna Kea”.

“In my opinion, Mauna Kea is an amazing platform that Wākea the Sky Father has given to humans to connect with the heavens,” said Ciotti.

It is estimated the telescope will cost $1.4bn to complete and its creators say it will allow astronomers to collect sharper images of the cosmos. Observers will use it to look back in time 13 billion light years, when the first stars were forming.

“Science and culture can coexist on Mauna Kea. One does not need to negate the other. In fact, they complement each other. This is not a zero-sum game,” says Ciotti.

But Kanuha and fellow protesters have vowed to continue fighting the telescope until construction is halted, and plan to continue peaceful protests. On Wednesday an estimated 1,000 demonstrators turned up at the site, with police issuing citations to 33 people.



Speaking of Monday’s demonstration, he says: “We had kūpuna, our ancestors, sitting in the middle of the road without any intent to move, singing songs and chanting and it was a really powerful and beautiful day.”