Government officials in India signed documents Tuesday establishing the country as a full partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. An international collaboration of institutions in the United States, Canada, Japan, India and China, the TMT project is working toward building a powerful, next-generation astronomical observatory atop Mauna Kea.
K Vijay Raghavan, secretary of India’s Department of Science and Technology, signed the documents to change India’s formal relationship from associate to member of the TMT International Observatory (TIO). TIO is the nonprofit limited liability company founded in May to carry out the construction and operation phases of the TMT project.
With the new membership agreement in place, India has secured observing time for its scientists at the observatory, slated to see first light in the 2020s. When completed, TMT will enable astronomers to study objects in this solar system and stars throughout the Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies, and forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable universe, near the beginning of time.
“It gives us great pleasure to announce that the Department of Science and Technology, the financial authority of India-TMT, has executed all the relevant documents to become a full member in the TMT International Observatory,” said Eswar Reddy, programme director of TMT-India, a TMT board member and an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.