Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope

CFHT had proposed redeveloping its summit facility into the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer, replacing the existing telescope with an 11.25 m (36.9 ft) segmented telescope while reusing much of the existing observatory infrastructure, including the foundation, telescope pier, and portions of the support building. As of 2026, however, the project remains on hold pending review of governance and leasing of observatories at this site. In the interim, the existing telescope will remain operating into the 2030s.

Funding

The corporation is bound by a tripartite agreement between the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in the United States, the National Research Council (NRC) in Canada and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France. CFHT also has partnerships with the National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC), the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) in Taiwan, the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (LNA) in Brazil and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in Korea. The contributions from these associate partners help fund CFHT's future instrumentation. Currently, CFHT observing time is offered to scientists from all the seven countries in the partnership. Astronomers from the European Union can also submit proposals through the Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy (OPTICON) access program.