HONG KONG: Texas A&M University recently reached a major milestone on its journey to help create the world’s largest eye aimed at the sky.
Construction officially is underway for the $1 billion Giant Magellan Telescope project, an international effort to build the 200-foot-tall structure in the northern mountains of Chile.
Once it’s fully operational — researchers hope by 2024 — A&M and the 10 other contributing partners involved in the project will be at the forefront of space observation as astronomers and physicists work toward solving the mysteries of the ever-expanding universe.
GMT project President Edward Moses, a Texas A&M Institute for Advanced Study faculty fellow, said the project’s staff of more than 100 took only a short pause to celebrate last week before getting to work.
“We took about 20 minutes for cookies and some sparkling apple cider, but it’s all hands on deck,” Moses said.
A&M’s monetary contribution, which so far is at $50 million, was given a major boost through a $33.25 million donation from 1940 graduate George P. Mitchell and his wife, Cynthia Woods Mitchell, allowing his alma mater to aid in pushing the project toward the $500 million fundraising benchmark needed to begin construction.
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