Many were deeply disheartened to learn that the National Science Foundation has defunded Hawaii’s Thirty Meter Telescope project. Still, they also should feel hopeful that, despite this tragic setback, the remaining astronomy installations atop Mauna Kea will retain support for their public and educational benefits.

The NSF revealed Friday in its budget request for the 2026 fiscal year that it will no longer fund the TMT on Mauna Kea, which for more than two decades has been proposed as the site for the state-of-the-art telescope. Instead, the foundation will devote its resources to the competing project, the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile.

The size of the planned 18-story TMT and its cost, which had ballooned over time from $1.4 billion to $3 billion, were among the reasons it was co

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