Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Radio astronomy observatory works to find international funding

Director says there is a good chance of finding outside money

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter, aduncan@dchieftain.com

The Very Long Baseline Array, a radio astronomy observatory with employees in Socorro, must find funding outside its current source by 2011 to remain open.

The array's director expects to succeed in that.

The National Science Foundation funds the array and other National Radio Astronomy Observatory work.

Friday, its Astronomy Senior Review Committee released a report recommending the national observatory decrease scientific staff costs and secure international money for the VLBA by 2011.

"Nobody's telling us to close this telescope tomorrow or next week or even next year," said Jim Ulvestad, director of the Very Long Baseline Array and the Very Large Array.

He said the review committee recognized the VLBA is unique and, if closed, nothing would replace it for decades.

"And so we intend to work very hard to make sure we keep that scientific capability," he said.

Ulvestad believes the array has a very good chance of getting the outside funding.

In the Socorro area, about 40 employees work on the array full-time and another 20 or 30 spend part of their time on it.

Ulvestad expects no cuts to the facility or payroll unless the funding doesn't come through by 2011.

The array has 10 radio telescopes across the country. The radio wave data they collect is combined in Socorro to form an image.

Of the current operating budget of about $6 million a year, Ulvestad said, the array needs to find $3 million a year from sources outside the National Science Foundation.

About 400 scientists from other countries use the array in groups every year, and the review committee would like to see them help support it, he said.

He has already started talking with the international partners, some of whom are doing work dependent on the array.

The committee report also recommended seeking funding from NASA and other U.S. organizations, mainly governmental entities, he said.

Ulvestad said the National Science Foundation commissioned the review committee because leaders want to develop and operate more big facilities in the future. However, more advanced astronomy equipment is much more expensive to build and operate.

In three to 10 years from now, Ulvestad said, the foundation won't have enough money for both new and existing facilities, so the committee had to prioritize the astronomy projects to save money.

The group recommended finishing the VLA's electronic upgrade and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, but pushed for other cuts.

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