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COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARKSERVICE
Haleakala Crater could become a new site of public conflict as the US Air Force proposes building seven more telescopes on its summit.
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The U.S. Air Force plans to build seven more telescopes on the summit of Haleakala to better monitor the growing number of objects floating through space.
But the proposal, first unveiled at public meetings on Maui last week, has been met with strong resistance, similar to the ongoing opposition to the planned Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.
Native Hawaiians and their supporters dominated the three “scoping meetings” held to kick off the planning process for an environmental impact statement planned for the Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site Small Telescope Advanced Research, or AMOS STAR, project.
Air Force officials held the meetings, as required by the EIS process, to solicit comment from community members on the scope of the planning efforts.
They were greeted by halls full of angry opponents telling them not to even bother.
“I came here to say no, no, no,” said Richard Lucas of Haiku, raising his voice with each “no.” “No” says all that needs to be said. It doesn’t mean maybe. It doesn’t mean maybe under different circumstances. It is a total rejection of the proposal, and I say to you: No.”
Lucas was one of hundreds of people who came to the meetings in Kahului, Pukalani and Kihei.
Speaker after speaker said the project would desecrate a sacred mountain that has already been desecrated by the Air Force and others who currently have telescopes on Haleakala.
Dane Uluwehi Maxwell, the son of the late Native Hawaiian activist Charles Maxwell, said the project’s EIS should include an examination of generational trauma and its impact on Native Hawaiians.
Maxwell said he has seen a deterioration of the environment on the mountain over the years.
‘And you want more? We can’t give anymore. This is it,” he said.
Mikahala Helm called the mountaintop development an “atrocity.”
“Hear the voices of our kupuna, see them in the clouds, feel them in the wind. Their love for Haleakala remains with us. They taught us this way of life, taking all that has been given to us for generations, under the get a knee Come, we understand that if it weren’t for Haleakala, we wouldn’t be here,” she said.
“No action, no telescope, is the only way,” she added.
The hearings were reminiscent of the TMT exploratory meetings held by the National Science Foundation on Hawaii Island in August 2022, when dozens of Native Hawaiians strongly objected to the construction of the proposed $2.65 million-plus observatory on top Mauna Kea during four meetings on the Big Island. .
The Air Force already has the 12-foot-long, 75-ton Advanced Electro-Optical System, or AEOS, telescope at Haleakala’s summit. It is the largest optical telescope in the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, the Maui Space Surveillance System facility houses several other telescopes ranging from 0.4 to 1.6 meters in size.
Under the new proposal, seven more telescopes would be built at the Haleakala summit complex. The project involves the construction and operation of six ground-mounted telescopes and one roof-mounted telescope, plus the establishment of an optics laboratory with communications equipment in an existing building.
The project requires the installation of new utilities, a paved driveway and parking, surface water runoff management measures and other site improvements.
According to the plan, the telescope domes would range in diameter from approximately 3.5 meters to 10 meters and a total height of 12 to 35 meters.
The tallest of the proposed telescope domes would be about a third the size of the 35-meter-tall AEOS telescope and would be even further dwarfed by the 43-meter-tall Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the mountain’s largest astronomical facility.
At 10,000 feet above sea level and with a stable climate with minimal scattered surface light, the Haleakala summit will provide excellent viewing conditions most days of the year to allow observation of objects in space in the Pacific Theater, according to the documents of the project.
After an estimated two years of construction, the AMOS STAR complex would only be visited by Air Force employees and contractors to perform calibration and maintenance, according to the plan.
The complex would be operated largely remotely by personnel from the US Space Force’s 15th Space Surveillance Squadron, which is already responsible for the Maui complex.
As part of the EIS process, the Air Force is required to conduct formal consultations with Native Hawaiians as required by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Last week’s hearings are not the first time a proposed Maui telescope has been challenged by Native Hawaiians and their supporters.
In recent years, a small group, Kilakila o Haleakala, has filed several lawsuits against the construction of what would become the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, known as DKIST. One of them went all the way to the state Supreme Court.
Additionally, Maui protesters – inspired by TMT opponents – attempted to block the shipment of DKIST telescope parts in 2015 and 2017. About 34 people were arrested during three different protests.
As with the TMT project, some speakers last week vowed to stand in the way of the AMOS STAR proposal if any attempt is made to begin construction.
Kako’o Haleakala, a community group dedicated to protecting Mount Maui, released this statement: “We implore the Department of the Air Force to unite and echo the voices of the community and uphold the rights of our country and our people to respect; BUILD THE AMOS STAR TELESCOPES Do not continue with the development of the military-industrial complex on Haleakala.
The group added that plans should be developed to dismantle the current telescopes there.
Responses will be processed by the Air Force until June 7. They can be emailed to amosstareis@tetratech.com or shipped via US Mail: AMOS STAR EIS c/o Tetra Tech, 1230 Colombia St., Suite 1000, San Diego, CA 92101.
The project’s website is at amosstareis.com.
