The Chandra X-ray spacecraft may soon go dark, threatening a great deal of astronomy

[Judi Lynn]

By Monisha Ravisetti published 2 days ago

Astronomers might face layoffs, a key observatory might be forced to shut down and precious cosmic details might start to fade from view.



A view of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory after being deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-93 mission on July 23, 1999. (Image credit: NASA)

Last week, an ominous letter was published to the Chandra X-ray Observatory's website. "Dear Chandra community," it starts, "As many of you are aware, the NASA budget for FY25 and beyond was released…"

This letter was written by Patrick Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center. In it, he's talking about NASA's budget proposal for the next few years. It's a budget that paints Chandra's future as a bleak one — a budget that would leave Chandra's mission behind.

"For scientists who rely on Chandra for their research, the mood is one of shock," Slane told Space.com, "but the energy to push back on this decision is high."

Without question, the unexpected end of Chandra would be heartbreaking for astronomers, and for astronomy. Scientists who use the Earth-orbiting spacecraft as their north star to elucidate the structures of black holes will face layoffs, and there is currently no other observatory capable of achieving the kind of X-ray resolutions Chandra has been obtaining since it reached its cozy spot around our planet in 1999. It is these resolutions, in fact, that have allowed those black hole scientists to study not just the voids themselves, but also many cosmic wanderers with the misfortune of treading too close.

More:
https://www.space.com/chandra-x-ray-observatory-nasa-fy2025-budget

[JoseBalow]

1. Due to budget cuts... what a shame

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. To be clear, Chandra still works.

Funds are being allocated to shut the program down, but not enough to support active operations. The justification is the spacecraft just doesn't work as efficiently as it did when launched.

True it's old, and not as spry as it once was, but those clever scientists at NASA have developed work-around thermal models and processes to manage the situation and have done so with amazing success – experiencing little or no decrease in observing efficiency.

So the Powers That Be -- in spite of an independent review that recommended an increase in the staffing of the project -- are planning to shut the telescope down, thereby depriving Xray astronomers of a major source of data.

Chandra is younger than Hubble. When will that system -- which is still producing good scientific information -- be on the chopping block?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Time for a GoFundMe for Chandra. n/t