According the Hawaii Tribune Herald, the Air Force Pan-STARRS telescope proposed to be built on the sacred mountain Mauna Kea has been delayed, in part by cost overruns.\u00a0 The article states:<\/p>\n
When complete, Pan-STARRS will scan the heavens for “near-Earth objects,” comets and asteroids that pose an impact threat to Earth. The Air Force funding has sparked protests that the telescope is a secret military installation, but project leaders maintain that it is intended only for civilian purposes and that all data collected will be unclassified<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Who can believe that? What’s more this is one of a new wave of telescopes poised to invade the sacred mountaintop:<\/p>\n Pan-STARRS is one of three new telescopes coming to Mauna Kea. The smallest, Hoku Ke’a, the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s 0.9-meter telescope, will be installed in the former housing of the 0.6-meter telescope soon. The largest, the Thirty Meter Telescope, may have a final EIS released to the governor by the end of this month.<\/p>\n >><<<\/p>\n www.hawaiitribune-herald.com\/articles\/2010\/01\/07\/front\/<\/cite><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Published: Thursday, January 7, 2010 9:44 AM HST<\/span><\/p>\n The environmental study for an asteroid-hunting telescope proposed to be built atop Mauna Kea will be delayed.<\/span><\/p>\n The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy had hoped to release a draft Environmental Impact Statement sometime early this year for the Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System, better known as Pan-STARRS.<\/p>\n That will be delayed for between 12 and 18 months while astronomers focus on fine-tuning the telescope’s prototypes on Haleakala.<\/p>\nTelescope EIS faces delays<\/h1>\n
by Peter Sur
\nTribune-Herald Staff Writer<\/em><\/h5>\n