UK Radio Astronomy development...

[Rick]

Government set to 'destroy' UK radio astronomy

The Government's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is proposing to axe the annual £2.5m public funding for "e-Merlin" - an upgrade to the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network between the UK's seven radio telescopes, the Times reports.

The proposal is part of a controversial plan to plug an £80m shortfall in STFC's budget. Jodrell Bank would also face closure as an observatory, while the close to £8m already spent on e-Merlin would be flushed down the toilet. According to scientists, the decision will "destroy Britain's leading role in radio astronomy".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/06/stfc_radio_astronomy/

[Rick]

Physicists and astronomers have three weeks to make the case for a number of high-profile projects at risk of being cut from the UK's science portfolio.

The lists of facilities and experiments include spacecraft, telescopes and hardware for particle accelerators.

The scientific worth of each is being assessed as administrators seek to plug an £80m hole in their finances.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7274956.stm

[Rick]

Scientists at one of the world's most advanced observatories are facing an uncertain future, with a closure threat hanging over its flagship project.

Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, home of the landmark Lovell Telescope, is part of a network of seven giant astronomy dishes in the eMerlin project.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council is struggling to finance it.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7281176.stm

[Rick]

Astronomers must make the best case for their subject to government if they are to stave off further funding woes.

That was one of the messages from Keith Mason, head of the funding body for UK astronomy, when he addressed a scientific meeting in Belfast.

Administrators have cut projects and research grants as they attempt to plug an £80m hole in their finances.

But there may be some good news for one project called eMerlin, a network of seven giant astronomy dishes.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7331518.stm

[Rick]

The young man at the back of the room got a big clap. "I'm a PhD student in solar physics. Why, in the current climate, should I and other students take the risk of continuing to do research in this area?" he'd asked the panel.

Nicholas Owen, from the solar theory group at St Andrews University, summed up the mood last week of astronomers gathered in Belfast for the annual meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Some, especially the younger ones, were resigned to having to get out of astronomy altogether.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7338666.stm

[Rick]

Professor Keith Mason is chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which funds astronomy and particle physics in the UK.

The STFC has been embroiled in a storm of criticism over cuts to its science portfolio.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7339519.stm

[Rick]

Paul Crowther is a professor of astrophysics at Sheffield University.

He has been a regular commentator on the funding cuts that have thrown UK particle physics and astronomy into turmoil.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7341535.stm

[Rick]

Professor Keith Mason, the man in charge of scything £80m from the UK's physics research budget, has been sharply criticised by MPs investigating cutbacks which have forced job losses in labs and threaten to shut down many projects.

The Commons select committee on innovation, universities, science and skills said in its report yesterday on the physics budgetary crisis that the explanation Mason gave for his decision to make cuts to ground-based solar-terrestrial physics (STP) was "inaccurate, unconvincing and unacceptable". The famous radio telescope at Jodrell Bank is one of the facilities threatened by STP cutbacks.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/30/physics_funding_mason_select_committee/

[Rick]

The UK has been left looking like an "unreliable" and "incompetent" partner for international science, according to a committee of MPs.

It is one of the conclusions in a report looking into handling of the "funding crisis" in physics research.

The study pins much of the blame on the head of the main funding body, and says "urgent changes must be made".

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7373940.stm

[Rick]

The future of eMerlin, a crucial upgrade to the world-famous Jodrell Bank observatory, in Cheshire, is starting to look brighter.

Its ranking has been raised in a review of science priorities for the body overseeing UK astronomy and physics.

The project is seen by many as vital to the future of Jodrell Bank and to radio astronomy in the country overall.

But the UK's "space weather" programmes face a bleak future at this point in the review process.

The scientific worth of projects in the UK's portfolio is being assessed as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) attempts to find £80m of savings through to 2011.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7464104.stm

[Rick]

UK scientists studying high-energy light from space and the connection between the Sun and Earth are to lose funding on a number of their projects.

The body overseeing UK astronomy and physics says some of its programmes will be cut back to save £80m by 2011.

But the Science and Technology Facilities Council says these savings should be seen against an overall budget for the period of £1.906bn.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7487861.stm

[Rick]

The future of Jodrell Bank, one of the world's leading radio astronomy centres, is secure according to the site's owner, Manchester University.

Jodrell's existence had been in doubt because of uncertainty over where money would come from to finish and run its key new project, the eMerlin network.

But the university says funding for the network, which ties together radio dishes across the UK, is now in place.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7496848.stm

[Rick]

 Scientists from the University of Manchester are to benefit from a 10m-euro grant designed to support radio astronomy across Europe.

The university's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics co-ordinates RadioNet - a network of the major radio astronomy observatories across Europe.

The money will support research into multi-pixel radio cameras and analysing signals received by radio telescopes.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7965873.stm

[Rick]

The first stage of the switch-on of one of the world's most powerful stargazing systems has got under way.

Seven radio telescopes around the UK have been linked with optical fibres, allowing scientists to probe deeper into the Universe than ever before.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7828174.stm