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Editor's Note: An updated version of this story was posted here at 3:15 pm ET.
A NASA decision yesterday to cut asteroid-research funding for the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which helps track space rocks that might threaten Earth, surprised and frustrated many astronomers who see the telescope as an important element in protecting Earth from a potentially devastating collision.
This morning, NASA reconsidered the decision and said they would continue to fund the research for 2002 while reviewing the program, SPACE.com has learned. The funding amounts to $550,000 out of a total annual budget of more than $10 million at Arecibo.
NASA's annual contribution to Arecibo was augmented in recent years by roughly $11 million investment for capital improvements, which enhanced the telescope's ability to study objects in the solar system.
Arecibo Observatory is primarily funded, however, by the National Science Foundation and is used for other research, including the SETI Institute's search for signals from other intelligent civilizations. This and other deep-space astronomy programs would not be affected by any NASA decisions.
What would be affected is Arecibo's study of Near Earth Objects, or NEOs.These are asteroids (and some comets) discovered close enough to Earth to warrant reasonably quick scrutiny to make sure they are not on a course that would hit the planet.
Once these objects are discovered, the radio telescope examines their shape, composition and spin so that their trajectories can be pinned down.
Researchers estimate there are about 1,000 of these objects that are larger than 1 kilometer (a half-mile) -- the threshold for what most experts figure could cause global devastation.
NASA has a goal of finding 90 percent of these large NEOs by 2008. The goal was conceived by the space agency itself and mandated by Congress.
About 500 NEOs have been found; none threaten Earth. If one is ever found to be on a collision course with the planet, scientists might then try to intercept the object and deflect or destroy it. No plan for such an endeavor has been officially worked out.
Cut condemned
The Planetary Society, a space exploration advocacy and research group, issued a statement late Wednesday strongly condemning the funding cut, which would have taken effect Jan. 1.
"Arecibo radar observations are crucial for determining the exact location, speed and direction of objects that approach Earth," said Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society. "We need this information to know how significant the probability is of any one asteroid hitting the Earth. It is irresponsible for Congress to mandate that NASA undertake asteroid and comet detection, and then to not provide sufficient funds for that program."
The American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) also decried the action in a statement that said funding for NASA research programs has been level over the past decade while costs have increased and new research programs have been added.
Significant new funding has gone into astrobiology research in recent years, for example. Meanwhile, the space agency faces budget cutbacks in the current post-Sept. 11 political world.
In the face of these budget limits, NASA officials said that asteroid characterization -- the sort of work done at Arecibo -- "may have to take a back seat" to actually discovering new NEOs, according to the DPS statement, which was attributed to DPS chairman Wesley T. Huntress and vice-chairman Richard P. Binzel.
In interviews with SPACE.com, other prominent asteroid researchers inside and outside NASA expressed shock and dismay early Thursday at the decision.
Broader issue
Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK studies asteroids and their risks. He is a strong advocate for increased funding for both sorts of asteroid research programs -- initial search and follow-up characterization.
Peiser saw a possible political motivation in the NASA decision.
"While the Arecibo shutdown is regrettable," Peiser said via e-mail early Friday, "this decision almost looks like a political wake-up call to Congress: Either increase the budget for NEO search and follow-up, or NASA will not be able to fulfill its 2008 target."
Peiser adds, however, that "it is already obvious to many that this target [of 90 percent NEO detection] won't be met given the current funding strategy and rate of detection." He also said "there are other radar telescopes that could be used in cases where newly discovered and potentially hazardous asteroids are in need of refined orbit calculations."
In addition, optical telescopes around the world are used for follow-up studies. Much of this work is done by well-equipped amateur astronomers who are not part of any official program.
The global effort these amateurs contribute to is bursting at the seams, meanwhile. As SPACE.com first revealed in October, new discoveries are coming at such a rapidly increasing pace that experts worry they won't be able to handle the load.
And smaller asteroids, those below the 1-kilometer threshold, are far more prevalent and, some researcher say, cause for worry. Smaller rocks, still hundreds of yards in diameter, have the potential to destroy a city or cause even more widespread regional havoc. While many of these are discovered each month, NASA has no formal plan or goal to find and keep track of them.
Some experts call NASA's overall strategy -- focusing mostly on large NEOs -- flawed. Peiser is among them. He also argues that NASA has not adequately lobbied Congress for additional funds to support NEO research in general.
"Consequently, this sad episode almost appears self-inflicted," he said.
Just before noon Thursday, however, Arecibo's Donald B. Campbell Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University, said NASA had informed him that the decision was being reconsidered.
"NASA has indicated that they will provide some funding for the program to allow it to carry on in the coming year," Campbell said in a telephone interview from Arecibo. At the same time, he said, the space agency would carry out a review of the program.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed the reversal.
Campbell said if NASA were to eliminate the $550,000 annual spending, other research into the solar system would be affected at Arecibo.
"Arecibo would live on, but there would be a big hole in solar system study," he said.
Editor's Note: An updated version of this story was posted here at 3:15 pm ET.
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