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 -
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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
EarthFirst
(2,877 posts)Botany
(70,281 posts)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)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).... 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
keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)How are we going to get Newt's colony on the moon?