Editing Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (section)

== Decommissioning ==
[[Image:Caltech-Submillimeter-Observatory (straightened).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.]]
In order to get a permit to build the [[Thirty Meter Telescope]] project on Mauna Kea, the [[University of Hawaii]] had to commit to closing and dismantling three existing observatories on the mountain. The three chosen were the CSO, the [[United Kingdom Infrared Telescope|UKIRT]], and the Hoku Keʻa telescope.<ref name=":0"/> Two additional telescopes must also be removed by 2033, but those have not been selected as of 1 April 2019.<ref name=":1"/>

On April 30, 2009, Caltech announced plans to decommission the CSO, transferring ongoing research to the next-generation [[Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope]] (CCAT) in Chile. The plans called for CSO to be dismantled, beginning in 2016, with its site returned to a natural state by 2018.<ref name=decom/> [[Thirty Meter Telescope protests|Delays]] in the environmental assessment and permitting processes have led to postponement of the telescope removal.<ref name=":1"/>

[[File:CSOSiteAfterRestoration.jpg|thumb|left|The CSO site after the telescope and dome were removed, and the site was restored.]]
Disassembly of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory's (CSO) 34-foot diameter telescope on Maunakea began the week of August 28, 2023. The entire decommissioning process was completed in July 2024 <ref name="RIP"/> and cost more than $4 million. CSO was the first observatory to be removed under the Decommissioning Plan of the University of Hawaiʻi Maunakea Comprehensive Management Plan.<ref name=underway/><ref name=paused/>

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