Arecibo - No funds to continue

..."as things stand now there'll be no more money to fund Arecibo's unique radar capability after fiscal year 2010."...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/64020222.html

My question, if Arecibo shuts down what does that do for Seti?!?! Do they have plans to somehow move equipment to another site if needed, or are we all crunching as much as we can before it closes? I looked for a good 'board' to post this in, but none really seemed to fit, and I think this does deserve attention and answers. Thank you!
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Perhaps this is more for the "Science" forum rather than "Crunching," but we're all here already. Sooner or later, we'll probably lose Arecibo, which makes squeezing the data stream sponge while we can important (plus for economies of return).

Does anyone know what the intersection of S@H is with "Serendip 5" ? Is it zero? Does our present data even come through that box?

I thought that S5 had the ability to open up the search range to 3ghz (instead of the cherry picked 2.5 mhz around hydrogen), which even with filtering would provide a magnitude increase in WU's generated per evening of recorded observation. Are the existing S@H client apps & server backend ready to split & process other ranges, or is a re-write involved?

If Arecibo shutters, could Serendip 5 be moved to another facility, or are these things such custom jobbers that they're unadaptable elsewhere?

Could the array at NRAO be used? It is a recieve only in pretty noise free area. The effective dish can be quite a bit larger as well.
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When we finally figure it all out, all the rules will change and we can start all over again.

I don't think we shall lose Arecibo. Its planetary radar capabilities are essential for watching asteroids and other Near Earth Objects, ass stressed in a recent report by the US National Research Council.
Tullio
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You are not alone. Both I and my daughter, with degree in physics, had to abandon research in order to make a living and marry. Sometimes I regret that decision and I try at least to keep in touch with what is going on. As Emilio Segre', one of the Fermi group, said once, to do research you need "un piccolo patrimonio". Cheers.
Tullio
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This is sad at any angle you look at it.. AND so typical of how the government does things. Why keep a perfectly working and pruducing radio telescope funded when you can spend 100 times the amount of money doing other experiments. How much has the USA spent on LCH? How much will they spend on health for illigal aliens in the next year? How much will they lose in froud in medicare. The Govs on estimates is they lose around 50 billion a year in bogas medicare claims.

To rebuild this dish which is nearly 1/4 mile in diameter in todays dollars would have to be close to a billion if not more. Like I said, why keep it when you can build a new one at 100 times the cost?
This all reminds me of the King Dome in Seattle, Washington. There was NOTHING wrong with the stadium.. The county had just spent 10s of millions putting a new roof on and a new celling inside. And for what? A couple years later, they blew the thing up and replaced it with a 650 million dollar OPEN AIR stadium in an area that is prone to lots of rain. The King Dome was closed and for a good reason.. the weather in Seattle can be un-friendly at times.
I think its time to start writing letters of protest to the Gov and any local state Reps.
There has been a forum at My team's site with links to where to get and where to send letters of protest.
DO IT NOW!
Get the docs you need here!
Mail them and do it as many times as you can! The only way the funding will continue is, if enough people PROTEST shutting it down!.

UPDATE: That Senate Bill S. 2862 it is is probably not relavent anymore.
Some one needs to get on the ball and re-write the auto-gen'ed letter contents!
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Not Ready Reading BRAIN. Abort/Retry/Fail?

I suggest a new project - STI - Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.
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I suggest a new project - STI - Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.

I am not a Us citizen and i am thousands of miles away, i dont know if their other projects that the US govt is doing in Arecibo or thats it. If thats it i am well aware of many countries around the world who are starting their own projects in space and do not have serious equipment yet and would be more than willing to take up Arecibo for other purposes ,including astronomy countries like india ,china ,germany etc They question is ,can the US govt surrender the facility or they just want it torn apart or is their something i am not aware like for example ,its only seti that will no longer be able to do its research will other projects will continue ?
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We choose to go to the moon and to do other things, we choose to go to the moon not because its easy but because its hard. kennedy

I suggest a new project - STI - Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.

I don't think we shall lose Arecibo. Its planetary radar capabilities are essential for watching asteroids and other Near Earth Objects, ass stressed in a recent report by the US National Research Council.
Tullio

I echo this statement, its funding may be tuned down in one way or another, but I'll bet it'll still be running in a decade or two from now, in some shape or form. Not betting on SETI@home though...

I suggest a new project - STI - Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.