CANADA-FRANCE-HAWAII TELESCOPE CORP
65-1238 MAMALAHOA HWY, KAMUELA, HI 96743 www.cfht.hawaii.edu

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Organizations Filed Purposes: OPERATE 3.6 METER ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE TO FURTHER THE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE THROUGH SCIENTIFIC REASEARCH, STUDIES, EDUCATION, AND DISSEMINATION OF SUCH KNOWLEDGE.

OBSERVATORY OPERATIONSCANADA-FRANCE-HAWAII TELESCOPE (CFHT) IS A HIGH-TECH SERVICE PROVIDER DELIVERING EXQUISITE ASTRONOMICAL DATA LEADING TO SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AT THE FOREFRONT OF TODAY'S ASTRONOMY.CFHT OPERATES, MAINTAINS AND DEVELOPS STATE-OF-THE-ART INSTRUMENTATION ON ITS TELESCOPE LOCATED AT THE TOP OF MAUNAKEA IN HAWAII, ONE OF THE BEST SITES IN THE WORLD FOR ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH, SERVICING THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES FROM CANADA, FRANCE AND HAWAII, AND THROUGH COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH TAIWAN AND CHINA.IN ADDITION, CFHT CONDUCTS SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS ON BEHALF OF ITS ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY, AS WELL AS THE DATA REDUCTION STEMMING FROM THOSE OBSERVATIONS.IN 2020, 339 NIGHTS WERE ALLOCATED TO OBSERVATIONS OF 134 DIFFERENT SCIENTIFIC PROPOSALS, REPRESENTING MORE THAN 1,000 COLLABORATORS. THE EXECUTION OF OUR LARGE PROGRAMS CONTINUED. THESE LARGE PROGRAMS INVOLVE SEVERAL DOZENS OF SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATIONS WORLDWIDE. ALSO IN 2020, MORE THAN 227 PUBLICATIONS APPEARED IN REFEREED SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS BASED ON PRIOR YEARS' OBSERVATIONS AT CFHT, A RECORD HIGH FOR THE OBSERVATORY.CFHT'S COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH PROGRAM PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY VIA ITS EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN NEIGHBORING SCHOOLS AND CULTURAL CENTERS. THIS APPROACH IS THREEFOLD: 1) SHOWCASE CFHT'S STAFF, SCIENCE AND INSTRUMENTATION, 2) ENGAGE, EXCITE AND INSPIRE BIG ISLAND KEIKI AND THEIR FAMILIES, AND 3) EXPAND CFHT'S OUTREACH PRESENCE IN OUR PARTNER COUNTIES. WITH THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN 2020, OUR EFFORTS CHANGED TO MEET OUR NEW CIRCUMSTANCES.CFHT SUPPORTED THREE MAJOR OUTREACH INITIATIVES AIMED AT LOCAL STUDENTS. CFHT CONTINUES TO OVERSEE THE EXPANSION OF THE SUCCESSFUL "JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE" PROGRAM THAT REACHED APPROXIMATELY 1,800 STUDENTS. STAFF VISITED CLASSROOMS DURING THIS TWO WEEK-LONG EVENT AND GAVE TALKS ABOUT CAREERS IN ASTRONOMY, SCIENCE, AND ENGINEERING. JOURNEY 2020 MARKED THE LAST IN-PERSON OUTREACH EVENT OF 2020.THE SECOND INITIATIVE WAS THE MAUNAKEA SCHOLARS PROGRAM, WHICH GAVE STUDENTS FROM THIRTEEN HAWAII HIGH SCHOOLS THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE FOR ACTUAL TELESCOPE OBSERVING TIME. THE 2020 PARTICIPATION IN THE MAUANKEA SCHOLARS PROGRAM VARIED ON A SCHOOL BY SCHOOL BASIS WHILE THE VIRTUAL AWARD CEREMONIES WERE HELD FOR SEVERAL SCHOOLS IN APRIL AND MAY. THE THIRD INITIATIVE WAS THE MKO@HOME PROGRAM, A NEW OUTREACH EFFORT SPAWNED OUT OF COVID-19. CFHT LEAD EFFORTS ACROSS THE MAUNAKEA OBSERVATORIES TO CREATE AND POST WEEKLY ASTRONOMY AND HANDS-ON STEM VIDEOS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC WORLDWIDE. OVER THE COURSE OF 2020, THE MKO@HOME PROGRAM TEAM CREATED 50 VIDEOS WITH 10,439 VIEWS.CFHT STAFF PARTICIPATED IN COVID-19 RELIEF AND SUPPORT EFFORTS ACROSS THE HAWAII ISLAND. STAFF VOLUNTEERED WITH THE FOOD BASKET (HAWAII ISLAND'S FOOD BANK) IN PACKING AND DISTRIBUTING FOOD. SEVERAL STAFF USED THEIR TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN JOINING HAWAII STEM COMMUNITY CARES, AN ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED TO CREATE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) FOR HAWAII ISLAND'S FIRST RESPONDERS AND RESIDENTS. CFHT STAFF CONSTRUCTED 550 HANDS FREE DOOR OPENERS AND 24 ULTRA VIOLET LIGHT SANITIZER TO ENABLE THE CLEANING AND REUSE OF N95 MASKS. STAFF ALSO WORKED ON THE KEIKI HEROES PROJECT DESIGNED TO CREATE COVID-19 RELATED MATERIALS FOR CHILDREN.PROGRAM SERVICE EXPENSES INCLUDE REIMBURSED EXPENSES OF $514,861 FOR ASTRONOMER SERVICES (REIMBURSED ASTRONOMER SERVICES), AND $50,269 IN MISCELLANEOUS DIRECT REIMBURSED EXPENSES RELATED TO CARRYING OUT ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH ON MAUNAKEA.

MAUNAKEA SPECTOGRAPHIC EXPLORER (MSE) PROJECTIN 2020, THE MSE PROJECT CONTINUED TO SUPPORT NATIONAL DECADAL PLANNING PROCESSES FOR ASTRONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES (US), AUSTRALIA, AND CANADA. MSE'S SCIENCE CAPABILITIES WERE WELL RECOGNIZED IN ALL THESE NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESSES. MSE ALSO CONTINUED TO EXPAND ITS PARTNERSHIP PROMOTION ACTIVITIES DURING THE YEAR. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, THE MSE PROJECT OFFICE HAD TO CHANGE ITS PARTNERSHIP PROMOTION ACTIVITIES FROM AN IN-PERSON VISIT TO A VIRTUAL PRESENCE AT VARIOUS ASTRONOMY MEETINGS. ALTHOUGH THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIRTUAL PRESENCE WAS DIFFICULT TO ASSESS, KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH KOREA JOINED THE PARTNERSHIP AS A FULL MEMBER DURING THE YEAR.IN ADDITION, THE MSE PROJECT OFFICE SAW STAFF OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPECT THAT NEW FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME MEMBERS WILL JOIN IN 2021 TO DOUBLE ITS TOTAL PERSONNEL. SINCE THE MSE PROJECT OFFICE HAS ANTICIPATED THE US ASTRO2020 SURVEY REPORT TO BE RELEASED AFTER MID-2021, THE TEAM HAS RE-PLANNED ITS PRELIMINARY DESIGN PHASE (PDP) TO START IN LATE 2022 OR EARLY 2023, IN ORDER TO ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO COORDINATE WITH THE US COMMUNITY IN RESPONDING TO THE REPORT. HOWEVER, THE PROJECT OFFICE IS WORKING TOWARD AN OFFICIAL PDP READINESS REVIEW IN MID-2022 IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE MSE'S PROJECT MATURITY, AND HAS ESTABLISHED SOUND PROGRAMMATIC AND TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT PLANS TO PROGRESS MSE AND TO PRODUCE EFFECTIVE SCIENCE RETURNS.

IN 2020, ALL OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART INSTRUMENTS WERE AVAILABLE TO ALL OF CFHT'S COMMUNITY. WE OPERATE FIVE INSTRUMENTS REMOTELY DURING NORMAL OPERATIONS, WHICH ALSO INCLUDES TWO BENCHMARK SURVEYS: 1) TO DISCOVER NEARBY EARTH-LIKE PLANETS IN THE HABITABLE ZONE OF THE MOST NEARBY STARS, AND 2) TO ANSWER SOME OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS IN ASTRONOMY ABOUT THE PROPERTIES OF DARK MATTER AND DARK ENERGY, THE GROWTH OF STRUCTURE IN THE UNIVERSE FROM GALACTIC TO CLUSTER SCALES, AND THE ASSEMBLY OF THE MILKY-WAY. DESPITE THE MANY PROBLEMS BROUGHT BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, CFHT OPERATED AT FULL CAPACITY THIS YEAR. THE ONLY TIME WE WERE CLOSED WAS DURING THE STATEWIDE SHELTER AT HOME ORDER BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF HAWAII.

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