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US Astronomy Facing Severe Budget Cuts and Facility Closures

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-i-like-pie-in-the-sky dept.

Nancy_A writes "The U.S. astronomy budget is facing unprecedented cuts, including the potential closure of several facilities. A new report by the National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences says available funding for ground-based astronomy could undershoot projected budgets by as much as 50%. The report recommends the closure – called 'divestment' in the new document — of iconic facilities such as the Very Long Baseline Array and the Green Bank Radio Telescope, as well as shutting down four different telescopes at the Kitt Peak Observatory by 2017."

2 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. The military does drive space science... by daveschroeder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and has throughout our history — but it shouldn't be the only thing that drives space science and other human achievement.

    If you're interested in a truly insightful and inspiring speech on this topic, I highly encourage you to set aside an hour for Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's recent talk on just this subject at the University of Wisconsin - Madison:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJzHHkmJ-8

    It's well worth your time to watch, to think about — and to discuss with your elected officials.

  2. Re:But we can have .. by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You think we rode to the moon on civilian hardware? Those were repurposed ICBMs made to blow up cities. The SALT treaties put an end to them.

    Cool story bro. Too bad it's completely wrong.

    The Saturn series rockets were designed by Von Braun's team to launch military satellites into low earth orbit. Every single one of them was launched from Cape Canaveral. The Saturn V was the largest of the Saturn series and was built for the purpose of launching astronauts into space. NASA never launched astronauts on rockets that were not designed to be human-rated.

    The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaty (more specifically SALT I) agreement was made in May 1971 which is a little late for the Saturn V to repurposed since it flew from Nov 9, 1967 to Dec 6, 1972.

    BTW, ICBM were originally mounted on Atlas rockets then were replaced by the Titan II rockets.

    --
    These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...