Jodrell Bank May Close Down

Anonymous Astronomer writes "MERLIN, the UK's only radio astronomy facility, is facing closure following the results of a Programmatic Review carried out by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the results of which were announced on Monday. The review placed MERLIN and the upgraded telescope e-MERLIN, due to go online later this year following an investment of £8M, in the low-priority category under serious threat of funding cuts. The upgraded array of telescopes, situated across the UK, will be 30 times more sensitive than the current array and will be a unique facility for observing distant objects and helping us understand the universe. If these cuts go ahead however, not only MERLIN but the entire Observatory including the iconic Lovell telescope, based at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, will be under threat of closure."

Comments

Ineffective against Vogons

[6350']

The Guide has already established that Goonhilly and Jodrell Bank perform poorly in real-world situations such as detecting large-scale near-earth-orbit objects. Despite a proposed upgrade, I still have to come down on the side of the STFC review and agree that throwing good money after bad doesn't make any sense.