Arecibo: Closing or mothballing or...

SETI@home and SETI BETA - project now closed, maybe for good :-(
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UBT - Timbo
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Arecibo: Closing or mothballing or...

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi all,

I've just been made aware of the following, dated 8th June 2015, from the SETI@home website:

Arecibo still threatened with closure.
Recently the NSF announced its intent (*) to start the process which could lead to the partial shutdown, mothballing, or complete disassembly of the Arecibo Observatory. As most of you know, this is not a new discussion in the scientific community. Several years ago we had asked you write letters to Congress in hopes of averting this fate.

A petition has been started on whitehouse.gov (**) to ask the President to ensure it is funded. I'm pessimistic about the chances that it will change anything, as the President cannot change Congressional budget priorities, and only has limited ability to move money between NSF programs. However, bringing attention to the issues of science funding in this country cannot hurt.

(*) Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/article ... gister.gov

(**) Link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petiti ... l-funded-0

Obviously, if SETI@home cannot acquire data from Arecibo, then it'll be dependant on Parkes and/or other radio telescopes, such as the new 500 metre dish nearing completion in China.

I would ask you to sign the petition - except that you cannot now, as it "didn't meet the signatory requirements" :-( (as apparently, you need to reach 100,000 signatories within 30 days of the petition start date :-( )

regards
Tim
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