Agreement on master partnership signed for giant optical telescope: Canada, China, India, Japan and the U.S. sign the pact in Hawaii

Abstract

Early on Friday, at about 8-30 a.m. India time, the Master Partnership Agreement (MPA) for the construction of the $1.5-billion Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT), what would be the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope, was signed by the five partner countries — Canada, China, India, Japan and the U.S. — in Hawaii, the site for the proposed telescope. The in-principle approval of India’s participation in the TMT project was accorded in 2010 itself (The Hindu, June 26, 2010). India also hosted a meeting of the Board of Directors of the project in New Delhi which laid the road map towards the TMT construction (The Hindu, January 23). However, a go-ahead from the legal section of the External Affairs Ministry ( to sign the MPA, which had to be done before the end of the month, had not come in till Wednesday.