Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute Increases Investment in Giant Magellan Telescope

July 7, 2026

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the Giant Magellan Telescope through a new investment that brings its total contribution to nearly $110 million (USD), strengthening the Republic of Korea’s leadership as the project’s third-largest partner.

“The Giant Magellan Telescope is one of the world’s most ambitious research facilities and represents the very best of international scientific collaboration,” said Jang-Hyun Park, president of KASI. “Our participation in the observatory is a cornerstone of South Korea’s long-term astronomy and space science strategy, and our new investment will advance the development of the world’s most advanced scientific instruments to ensure our scientists continue to play a leading role in ground-based and space-based astronomy for generations to come.”

The multi-million-dollar investment will help keep the observatory on the critical path through the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Major Facilities Final Design Phase, which began in June 2025 and is scheduled to conclude in 2027. The Republic of Korea and the international consortium building the telescope elected to privately fund the phase, which is traditionally supported by the NSF.

“KASI has played a leading role in advancing the Giant Magellan Telescope since joining the project in 2009,” said Taft Armandroff, board chair of the Giant Magellan Telescope and director of McDonald Observatory. “Today, the institution is the project’s third-largest partner and continues to shape the observatory’s future. KASI’s additional investment comes at a critical time in the project’s history, enabling our international consortium to privately fund a significant portion of the cost required to complete the NSF Major Facilities Final Design Phase. Their long-term commitment reflects a shared vision to push the boundaries of discovery and ensure scientists around the world have access to one of the most powerful telescopes in history.”

KASI is a contributing partner in the development of several of the Giant Magellan Telescope’s scientific instruments, helping position the observatory to answer some of the most profound questions in modern astronomy, including whether life exists beyond Earth and how the first stars and galaxies formed. The institution’s investment will advance the design and development of the following instruments:

• G-CLEF (GMT-Consortium Large Earth Finder), a high-resolution spectrograph designed to detect and characterize Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars.
• GMTNIRS (GMT Near-Infrared Spectrograph), a near- to mid-infrared echelle spectrograph designed to study the earliest galaxies in the Universe and the formation of planetary systems.

The Giant Magellan Telescope is under development in Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the best locations on Earth for ground-based astronomy. The region’s high altitude, extreme dryness, atmospheric stability, and dark skies create observing conditions that cannot be replicated by technology alone. From this Southern Hemisphere location, astronomers gain access to some of the universe’s most important targets, including the center of the Milky Way, the nearest star to our Sun, and many of the closest galaxies and potentially habitable exoplanets.

Chile’s leadership in astronomy is built not only on geography but also on decades of investment in scientific institutions, international collaboration, and a world-class research community. Together, these advantages have made Chile home to many of the world’s most advanced observatories, including the recently commissioned Vera C. Rubin Observatory, of which KASI is an international partner.

“The skies above Chile are considered one of the best in the world for astronomical research and through international collaboration Chile has promoted the installation of important and visionary projects among them the Giant Magellan Telescope,” said Mathias Francke Schnarbach, Ambassador of Chile to the Republic of Korea. “It is expected that, over the next decade, Chile will account for approximately 75% of the world’s astronomical observation capacity. The growing participation of Korea, through the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, in some of those major international projects in Chile, including the Giant Magellan Telescope and Vera C. Rubin Observatory, will contribute to strengthening and advancing the development of astronomical sciences in both countries.”

For KASI, participation in the Giant Magellan Telescope is part of South Korea’s long-term strategy to gain access to the next generation of research facilities known as “extremely large telescopes,” or ELTs. These ground-based observatories will have five times the light-collecting area and up to 200 times the power of today’s leading telescopes, enabling astronomers to push the boundaries of discovery and maximize the scientific return of future space-based missions. At the same time, KASI’s contributions to the Giant Magellan Telescope’s advanced instrumentation program are cultivating the technical expertise, engineering capabilities, and scientific workforce needed to support South Korea’s next generation of astronomy and space initiatives led by the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA).

KASI’s renewed investment reflects the growing international momentum behind the Giant Magellan Telescope and underscores the critical role global partnerships play in advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe.