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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 01:32 AM Jan 2019

The Government Shutdown Is Taking a Toll on Space Science

Source: NBC News


By Hanneke Weitering, Space.com Staff Writer | January 10, 2019 01:53pm ET

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA4Mi8xMzIvb3JpZ2luYWwvcG90dzEyMjJhLmpwZw==


Credit: Babak Tafreshi/ESO


SEATTLE — While the partial government shutdown has left thousands of workers without a paycheck, it is also taking a toll on the space science community. Research projects are put on hold while observatories get ready to close down. And NASA's famous Hubble Space Telescope has suffered a mechanical problem that only furloughed NASA employees can repair.

Here at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the largest annual gathering of astronomers and astrophysicists in the country, the government shutdown has barred hundreds of employees of NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) from giving talks, presenting new science results and even attending the conference voluntarily. Several events had to be canceled, while many NASA scientists have had to rely on partners outside of NASA to give their presentations in their absence.

Meanwhile, telescope facilities that have so far remained open during the shutdown will soon run out of money and cease operations. This includes the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), a federally funded organization that operates the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the Green Bank Telescope and the Very Large Array (VLA).

NRAO officials at the AAS conference said that their telescope facilities have enough funding left over from before the shutdown to operate at least through the end of January, if not mid-February. If the government shutdown does not end before then, the facilities will have to shut down, too.

Read more: https://www.space.com/42959-government-shutdown-space-science-impact.html

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The Government Shutdown Is Taking a Toll on Space Science (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jan 2019 OP
Correction: Republicans are taking it's toll on science. nt EarthFirst Jan 2019 #1
My S.I.L. works for NASA* and is laid off too. Botany Jan 2019 #2
My son works for NASA also. llmart Jan 2019 #3
S.I.L. does some stuff w/the sun and her work has real world applications as per "solar stuff" ... Botany Jan 2019 #4
How are we going to get Newt's colony on the moon? keithbvadu2 Jan 2019 #5

Botany

(70,281 posts)
2. My S.I.L. works for NASA* and is laid off too.
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 08:09 AM
Jan 2019

One problem is that the data form her projects is coming in 24/7 from "things" in space
and with the shutdown she hasn't been able to monitor it. OH, and then there is the no
pay check thing too.


* Her business card does say Rocket Scientist on it.

llmart

(15,499 posts)
3. My son works for NASA also.
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 08:32 AM
Jan 2019

He's been told to work from home with no pay. First he had to use up his banked personal time as did the others he works with. So once he's exhausted his personal time I guess he gets no vacation this year. He hates Trump with a passion (like his mother does).

*I love telling people I run into that my son is a rocket scientist. Many of them think I'm kidding at first, but then I say, no, he really is a rocket scientist at Cape Canaveral.

Botany

(70,281 posts)
4. S.I.L. does some stuff w/the sun and her work has real world applications as per "solar stuff" ...
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 08:41 AM
Jan 2019

.... that can effect our electric grid and telecommunications.

Trump is an unqualified hack/con man/grifter installed by Russia and right wing billionaires
in order to fuck with America and the American people.

FYI https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211655120

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