[meteorite-list] Report Calls Arecibo Observatory 'Uniquely Powerful' for Detecting Near-Earth Objects

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:14:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200909292314.n8TNELft006563_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept09/AreciboNAS.html

Report calls Arecibo Observatory 'uniquely powerful' for detecting
near-Earth objects

Sept. 29, 2009

By Anne Ju
Cornell University
amj8 at cornell.edu

The Arecibo Observatory provides "unmatched precision and accuracy"
in detecting asteroids or comets that could hit the Earth, says a
report by the National Academy of Sciences. That statement could help
secure the observatory's future.

The world-famous, Cornell-run radio telescope's unsurpassed
capabilities for taking precise, clear pictures of these near-earth
objects (NEOs) are laid out plainly in the recently released interim
report, "Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies."
Mandated by Congress in 2008, the report was written by a survey
committee appointed by the National Research Council, which is the
operational arm of the National Academy of Sciences. A final report
is due out in December.

Although Earth has been hit by asteroids and comets for billions of
years, it was suggested in the 1980s that a massive asteroid impact
had wiped out the dinosaurs. Since then, scientists have considered
the effects -- and possible widespread extinction -- of future
impacts.

The report's positive review of Arecibo's role in NEO detection and
imaging was welcome news for Cornell officials as they await a
decision by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on funding for the
observatory, as well as whether they'll be allowed to continue
operating the facility via a long-held cooperative agreement with the
NSF. The agency has announced it will require all institutions,
including Cornell, to compete for the right to operate Arecibo
through an ongoing Request for Proposal process.

Arecibo's future has been clouded since November 2006, when the
Senior Review, an advisory panel to NSF's Division of Astronomical
Sciences, recommended that the facility's operating budget be reduced
to $8 million from $10.5 million over three years, and then halved to
$4 million in 2011. If such a drastic reduction did take place, it
could mean Arecibo would have to close.

Meanwhile, NASA is facing a 2005 Congressional mandate, according to
the report, of discovering 90 percent of all NEOs that are 140 meters
(almost .09 miles) in diameter or greater, by 2020. Current NASA
surveys are not sufficient to meet this goal, the report says.

The glowing review of Arecibo's importance to NASA's NEO detection
mitigation might be a key push for Arecibo staying open for the
foreseeable future.

"If the survey committee had not come out that strongly, it would
have virtually ruled out any funding," said Don Campbell, director of
Arecibo's parent organization, the National Astronomy and Ionosphere
Center. "[The report] was a necessary, but not sufficient condition
to get funding from either NASA or NSF."

Despite NASA's insistence that it will not provide operational
funding for an NSF facility, Campbell remains optimistic that,
eventually, there will be funding for Arecibo's NEO program.

"The Arecibo planetary radar system provides by far the best imagery
and tracking data for NEOs, short of sending a spacecraft," Campbell
said. "It is hard to imagine that we will deliberately give up such a
capability."

Only time will tell what practical impact the report will have with
regard to funding for Arecibo, Campbell said. In the meantime, the
NSF has not yet released budget figures for the facility for fiscal
year 2011.

--

Received on Tue 29 Sep 2009 07:14:21 PM PDT