![\"Spain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Spain-Offers-1-Billion-Euros-in-Bid-to-Host-Thirty-Meter-Telescope.webp\")
Credit: TMT<\/p>\n Credit: TMT<\/p>\n
Spain has offered a package worth up to \u20ac1 billion to support the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Spanish site is currently the project\u2019s designated alternative, with Mauna Kea in Hawaii remaining the preferred location.<\/p>\n
Announced on 29 July, the package includes a \u20ac400 million contribution from Spain\u2019s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology and Innovation (CDTI), matching an initial offer made by the government in July 2025.<\/p>\n
That proposed contribution will now be supplemented by a \u20ac300 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which remains subject to final assessments and approvals, and \u20ac300 million from Spain\u2019s state-owned Instituto de Cr\u00e9dito Oficial (ICO). The language used for the ICO commitment, however, was far less firm, with the 29 July Spanish Space Agency press release stating that the bank was \u201cconsidering a potential investment of up to an additional \u20ac300 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u20ac1 billion proposal is still contingent, however, on the TMT consortium moving the project from Mauna Kea to La Palma.<\/p>\n
Mauna Kea was selected as the primary site for the construction of TMT in 2009. In October 2016, La Palma was selected as the official alternate site. While that status remains unchanged, several factors are making it increasingly likely that the project\u2019s consortium will shift its focus to Spain.<\/p>\n
In October 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony for the facility was disrupted by protesters opposed to its construction on Mauna Kea, a site considered sacred by many Native Hawaiians. This was the first of many disruptions, including court proceedings and blockades. There are also concerns about the US government\u2019s commitment to funding the project.<\/p>\n
In its FY2026 budget request, the National Science Foundation (NSF) explained that TMT would not advance to the final design phase and would \u201cnot receive additional commitment of funds from NSF.\u201d Instead, the agency proposed focusing on the Giant Magellan Telescope, which is under construction in Chile.<\/p>\n
Congress did overrule that proposal, directing NSF to advance both telescopes to final design review. However, it did so while stipulating that this be done \u201cat no cost to the Federal Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its FY2027 budget request, NSF once again stated its preference for GMT, stating that it had \u201cselected one project, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), to advance to the Major Facility Final Design Stage.\u201d The request provides no design funding for GMT or any other Extremely Large Telescope project. TMT is not mentioned in the document.<\/p>\n
The \u20ac1 billion financing package represents almost a year of work by the Spanish government, beginning with a formal offer in July 2025 to provide up to \u20ac400 million if TMT were built on La Palma. By November, the TMT consortium said the Spanish proposal represented a \u201cpromising avenue for a new observatory\u201d and agreed to work with Spain\u2019s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to develop a detailed roadmap towards the potential realisation of TMT on La Palma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: TMT Spain has offered a package worth up to \u20ac1 billion to support the construction of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-723910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}