Posted on: Tuesday, June 26, 2001

Hilo firm wins astronomy contract

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A tiny Hilo firm has been awarded a $4.18 million federal contract to build a high-tech astronomy instrument for the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea.

Douglas Toomey of Mauna Kea Infrared LLC won the 45-month contract in competition with three other companies that answered a NASA request for proposals.

The "near infrared coronagraphic imager" will help scientists study the origin and evolution of planetary systems, said Toomey, an electrical engineer who worked as a technician for the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy before starting his own firm.

The contract for the imager is believed to be the largest awarded to a Big Island firm since astronomy facilities were established on Mauna Kea in 1970. Toomey said the Gemini contract will help him realize his dream to build an instrument integration and testing facility in Hilo that will allow his firm to bid for other similar jobs.

Toomey's company now has only one employee but a dozen associates in Hawai'i and California who will assist him in designing and building the 2-ton instrument for the $193 million Gemini North astronomy center.

The center, opened in 1999, is managed by a seven-nation consortium known as AURA, the Association of Universities for Research and Astronomy.

Toomey also has built instruments for such clients as the University of California at Los Angeles, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Naval Observatory.