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NSF Delays Funding for Giant Telescopes Until Early 2020s

Two huge installations could be left unfinished due to insufficient funds

Jan 4, 2012 10:45 GMT  ·  By
This is a rendition of the GMT
   This is a rendition of the GMT

According to a statement released by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), it would appear that the organization does not plan to support the construction of either the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) or the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) until at least the early 2020s.

These observatories are two competing projects, under development by two different consortia in the United States. Each of the groups has been collecting funds for a long time, in hopes that the NSF will eventually come up with the rest, and help them complete their telescopes.

The TMT is being developed by a consortium of universities and research centers spearheaded by the University of California, whereas the GMT is being constructed by the Carnegie Observatories, in association with the University of Arizona and other research groups.

Each of the two competitors has thus far raised tens of millions of dollars towards the final goal of completing the observatories, but they are extremely far away from collecting the billions of dollars needed to construct such large behemoths.

But now the NSF announces that it will not support the construction of any giant segmented mirror telescope over the next 8 years. The best the organization can do is provide a budget of $1.25 million over 5 years for the creation of a partnership to analyze the idea of building such a telescope beyond 2020.

Even so, the organization says that it will engage in such a project only if it is in the financial position to do so. Due to the economic crisis, the NSF is strapped for cash, and even its most ambitious or long-term projects are suffering.

The tricky thing about the NSF decision is that it leaves both the GMT and the TMT on their own. Both projects aim to achieve first light before 2020, so the new decision essentially leaves it up to these universities and their partners to come up with billions of dollars.

To make matters even worse, the council of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has already approved the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), a 39.2-meter behemoth to be constructed in Chile. By 2021-2022, the installation will be ready, dwarfing both the GMT and TMT – assuming they are ever built.

“We don't expect to have any substantial money to put into a GSMT this decade. The intent of the solicitation is to 'find the best option for a project that would have community participation in the future',” the head of the NSF astronomy division, James Ulvestad, tells ScienceInsider.