In Hawaiian tradition, Māui, the shared ancestor of Pacific peoples, climbed Haleakalā to slow the sun for his mother Hina, extending the length of day so her kapa (bark cloth) would dry.
Now, atop this sacred mountain, the United States Space Force wants to build a new network of military telescopes.
The summit is already home to a cluster of observatories, telescope domes, military surveillance infrastructure and communications facilities, which Native Hawaiians say were built, just as this new proposal, despite longstanding opposition from the community.
Hina Puamohala Kneubuhl and husband Kingi Gilbert (Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa) are among those standing up against the proposed AMOS STAR project, which would place seven new telescopes on the summit.
Hina and Kingi are part of Protect Haleakalā, a community collective opposing further development on their sacred and sensitive maunga.
For Kānaka Māoli, Hina says Haleakalā is the most sacred place on the island of Maui, that it isn’t simply a landscape, but a living, breathing ancestor, and a connection to the celestial realm.
The US Department of the Air Force released its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) in January 2026, and it acknowledged the project would have significant and adverse effects on cultural resources, acknowledging Haleakalā as a cultural landscape and sacred site, and noted the public submissions, which raised concerns about its spiritual significance and cumulative militarisation.
Although the statement recognises consultation obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act and the Department of Defense policies, Hina argues Native Hawaiians have long made their opposition clear.
She noted opposition extends beyond community groups. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Maui County Council have both opposed the proposal and called on the Air Force not to proceed.
“They’re just not listening to us,” Hina said.
Hina says the visual impacts aren’t abstract. Although Kānaka Māoli can still access their ceremonial spaces on the mountain, she described the access as “awkward”.
One of those facilities is the Daniel Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s largest solar telescope, built next to an ahu, a ceremonial space Kānaka Māoli often use.
“You have this huge, towering telescope that stands over you, and it makes it really hard to get into a space where you can do your karakia, your ceremony, and feel the whenua and kūpuna,” she stressed.
Kingi says Māori should think of Rotorua or Gisborne, imagining if the NZ government decided to build large telescopes on Mokoia or Hikurangi without consent and despite opposition from local iwi.
“That’s the thing, they’re choosing sacred places and disrespecting locals entirely,” he expresses.
He went on to say it would be a grievous transgression that we couldn’t imagine happening in Aotearoa.
He referenced governance models such as the Tūpuna Maunga Authority and the legal personhood of Te Uruwera and the Whanganui River, suggesting approaches that could benefit Haleakalā and Hawaii as a whole.
The Air Force report identified environmental risks associated with the construction and operation of the project, which includes excavation, concrete pads, runoff management systems, vehicle access and staging areas.
Risks included potential impacts on threatened and endangered species through habitat disturbance from construction noise and activity, increased human presence, dust, and pollution.
The species included the Haleakalā silversword, the ‘ua’ua (Hawaiian petrel),’ōpe ‘ape’a (Hawaiian hoary bat), ‘akē’akē (band-rumped storm petrel), ‘a’o (Newell’s shearwater), and the nēnē (Hawaiian goose).
Other risks included erosion, sediment runoff affecting waterways, hazardous contamination, and disturbance to fragile alpine ecosystems. However, the DEIS also considers these environmental effects as non-significant, with mitigation measures proposed such as stormwater controls, infiltration systems, and construction management plans.
Hina argues the claims can’t be viewed in isolation from the wider history of military pollution. Examples include the dumping of 63,000 pounds of toxic nitrate compounds into the ocean, the release of hydrogen cyanide, mustard bombs, radioactive waste, as well as the release of bombs, missiles and torpedoes.
“They’ve already desecrated the top of our mountain in many ways,” Hina asserts.
In 2023, 2,650 litres of diesel leaked due to a mechanical issue at the Maui Space Force Surveillance Complex on Haleakalā. Authorities said they understood the importance of environmental stewardship and began immediate cleanup; however, the leak has still not been fully cleaned up, with remediation expected by 2032.
Hina emphasised this isn’t an individual case but part of a greater pattern and long history of military use and exploitation of Hawaiian lands.
Hina went on to say this isn’t the first time they have ‘desecrated’ a sacred place and pointed towards Kaho’olawe, which is considered the living embodiment of the atua Kanaloa.
The island was seized by the US military after the attack on Pearl Harbour and used until 1994, when the process of returning the island began. However, it remains inaccessible and polluted with dangerous explosives on the land.
Rather than pushing toward militarisation and military-aligned careers, Hina said her people would love to see demilitarisation (the reduction of military presence) and funding for Hawaiian language education, for Kaiapuni teachers, and for cultural revitalisation.
Hina explains that the intergenerational trauma with the US military begins with the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
We’ve been fighting this occupation and this militarisation for 133 years now. And in that span of time, all we’ve seen is an increasing military presence.
— Hina Puamohala Kneubuhl,Protect Haleakalā
In 1843, Great Britain recognised the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign land and independent state, welcoming it into the Family of Nations. Fifty years later, that sovereignty was violently disrupted, Hina elaborates.
Hina says they honour the work of those who come before them and acknowledge Timoteo Kamalehua Ha’alilio, one of the envoys of the Hawaiian Kingdom who travelled internationally to secure recognition.
“He lost his life doing that, and for a good 50 years, we had an amazing kingdom that was growing, and was a beautiful place for those who lived there,” Hina remarks.
READ MORE: In January 2025, Te Ao Māori News spoke with Kānaka Māoli youth leader Kainoa Azama at the ‘Onipaʻa Peace March, commemorating 132 years since the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Kingi said while the histories of Māori and Kānaka Māoli differ, there is a shared pursuit of tino rangatiratanga and similarities in those struggles. However, he said the scale of military presence in Hawaiʻi differs significantly and, in light of increasing militarisation globally, Māori could learn from the Hawaiian experience.
The stand also sits within a broader Hawaiian movement for demilitarisation, in light of the fact that within the next five or six years, military leases are set to expire.
There are now over ten recognised military bases in Hawai’i, and Hina says the telescopes raise concerns about increased militarisation and concerns about how the information gathered by the telescopes could be used within US military and national security systems.
The department states the use includes space domain awareness involving satellite tracking, prevention of strategic surprise, laser communication capability, space object monitoring, to enable advanced research and expand the Department of the Air Force’s understanding of objects in the Pacific region.
READ MORE: In a few weeks, the 30th iteration of Rim of the Pacific war games begins in Hawai’i, and in 2024, Te Ao Māori News interviewed Hawai’ian scholar Emalani Case on the last iteration.
The DEIS includes concerns on global and Pacific theatre tensions, noting stakeholders are worried the project could escalate military presence and heighten tensions with countries such as China and Russia and increase the likelihood of geopolitical instability in the Pacific.
“We don’t want our ‘āina implicated in the destruction of other people and places,” Hina stressed.
“It’s not just ourselves we’re concerned about. This is the American military, and its activities sit in a global context. It’s actually really scary at the moment. We’ve seen the American military being involved with the genocide in Palestine, and bombing girls’ schools in Iran.”
Kingi reiterated that it is scary times and as Māori, he’s concerned the government has tightened its alignment with the US and, in particular, its military. In Aotearoa, groups have raised concerns about the proposed US-NZ deal on critical minerals with military-end use, Rocket Lab winning a contract from the Department of War, and the NZ Defence Force testing a new satellite system developed by Elon Musk, which was used in drones in the Iran war. Jared Novelly, the US Ambassador to NZ, Niue, the Cook Islands and Samoa, said his focus in the region would be increased US military presence and critical minerals.
Kingi described this approach to diplomacy of military primacy and domination isn’t aligned with the Pacific people whose worldviews are grounded in whakapapa, connection and reciprocity. He went on to say New Zealand as a whole has always benefited from being a friendly neighbour with a strong independent foreign policy.
“Kia mataara, there’s a very hungry actor in the world, with desires in New Zealand. Be careful that relationship doesn’t trample on any whenua Māori,” he said.
Hina added, “Kia tūpato, they will come to your land, they will extract from it, they will pollute it, destroy it, and leave it in ruins. That’s what they do.”
She encouraged Māori and Kānaka Māoli to uplift their worldviews, histories, and knowledge systems.
Te Ao Māori News have reached out to the US Air Force and the US Embassy in NZ for comment.
