It has faced decade-long construction delays due to protests in Hawaii. The U.S. National Science Foundation will fund only one, leaving the TMT without support. Spain has offered €400 million to join the project if it is relocated to La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Matthew Ansley;

The U.S. National Science Foundation chose to fund the Giant Magellan Telescope, which is under construction on Las Campanas Peak at the southern edge of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world. A delegation from the Thirty Meter Telescope has travelled to Madrid to negotiate terms. La Palma offers strong astronomical conditions, but it is less ideal than Mauna Kea in Hawaii.