After 52 years of groundbreaking science , the renowned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico faces an uncertain future . According to aNature News report , operation director Robert Kerr has resign after a bitter conflict with the National Science Foundation over financing cuts .
The trouble start over the summertime , when Arecibo was extend the chance to accept secret SETI work from Russian billionaire Yurni Milner . Milner had lately announcedBreakthrough Listen , a $ 100 - million exertion to look for receiving set and light signals that could signal alien intelligence activity . Naturally , Milner wanted to enlist the most sensitive radio telescope on Earth . And he was uncoerced to pay handsomely .
Arecibo has been John Cash - strapped for class thanks to a series of budget cut from the NSF . So to Kerr , Milner ’s offer felt like salvation — until it became clear that the NSF find it as a elbow room to jump out ship . That is , to accept money from Breakthrough , Arecibo would have to forgo further financial backing from the NSF . The controversy first came to sparkle in a July 29thScientific American clause , in which Kerr criticise the NSF for turn a promising research and backing opportunity into a “ poisonous substance birth control pill ” :
Kerr rejects the NSF ’s position as a catch-22 cleverly designed to further the agency ’s budget - switch off goals . As appealing as the Breakthrough Listen observations at Arecibo might be , they would be take place outside the kingdom of equal followup , and would thus not contribute to that portion of the NSF ’s authorisation . The further cuts to NSF - mandated science watching that would likely be involve to live up to a Breakthrough Listen partnership could consequently allow the NSF with a convenient excuse to justify divestment . “ This new berth waxes unscrupulous , ” he say . “ The NSF now insists that we do commercial-grade , non – compeer - reviewed science so they can divest — and show positively that Arecibo no longer does mainstream tuner astronomy and is thus slimy for NSF investiture . awe-inspiring . ”
NSF ’s take on the matter ? Kerr is monotonic - out wrongfulness about the “ communication breakdown , ” and he ’s being to a fault sensitive about the funding thing . harmonize to Nature News :
“ It was expect that some offset would come because this situation would divert telescope time ” away from other skill , aver NSF astronomy division director Jim Ulvestad . But the NSF still has not decide whether Breakthrough funding would trigger a one - for - one undercut or indeed any deletion at all , he says . Kerr and SRI were both told so repeatedly , Ulvestad says .
The NSF says that communicating with Kerr continued as common , and he concedes that his regular biweekly phone shout with the agency did not cease . The NSF mention other dubiousness about Kerr ’s incumbency to his former employer , SRI , which say it does not discuss personnel matters .
Whoever is in the rightfulness here , it ’s most surely the case that with Kerr ’s resignation , the notable observation tower has lost one of its biggest advocate . And at a time when NSF seems eager to become its attention and dollars to new labor , that does n’t foretell well for the future of radio uranology .
[ Nature News ]
Top : airy image of the Arecibo Observatory , via Wikimedia
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