Hoku Ke’a to be decommissioned

A state board last week approved an application by the University of Hawaii at Hilo to remove its education telescope from Maunakea later this year.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources approved on Friday a conservation district use application from UH-Hilo’s Center for Maunakea Stewardship regarding the decommissioning of the university’s Hoku Ke‘a observatory.

Hoku Ke‘a was intended to house a 36-inch telescope to be used as a teaching aid by UH astronomy students, but the telescope was never installed after it was discovered to be defective. The observatory dome was slated for decommissioning in 2015 as part of the terms for the planned eventual construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.

With the application approved, the decommissioning process is on track to begin before the end of the year and is expected to take about five months to complete. The decommissioning includes a partial restoration of the site to its original topography.

“This is another important milestone as we prepare to transfer stewardship responsibility of the mauna to the new (Mauna Kea Stewardship Oversight Authority),” said CMS Executive Director Greg Chun in a statement. “We want to mahalo the BLNR and the Department of Land and Natural Resources for their time and attention to this project, which remains a top priority for UH-Hilo.”

Meanwhile, the California Institute of Technology is anticipated to begin the decommissioning of its Submillimeter Observatory within the next few months.