Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 5 April 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/458689a
News
UK budget crunch knocks out Big Bang telescopes
Council scraps Clover project to hunt for Universe's polarization.
A telescope capable of finding evidence for gravitational waves from the aftermath of the Big Bang is destined to remain in pieces across four UK universities, after the project was cancelled late last month. Astronomers say the cancellation reflects the dire budget circumstances of UK physics and astronomy.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email webadmin@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
Are you kidding! 4.1 million dollars. That is such a shame. It stuns me to think of the amazing answers that could come from that research. It stuns me even more to realize that it has, and can be cut so late in the project. I work for a large corporation who's payroll for about six hours would equal 4.1 million dollars. That amount of money is spent in 8.2 minutes on the Iraq war. Perhaps if certain governments were more concerned about things like "How the Universe began" instead of having enough cheap oil these budget problems would not be an issue. As Socrates says "The unexamined life is not worth living" Lets find the 4.1 million and examine it from the very beginning!
The CLOVER team is exceedingly disappointed that the STFC is withdrawing its support after so much effort, technical expertise, and money have been expended, and with the project within sight of deployment. The team is grateful for the financial and administrative support that the STFC has provided throughout the life of the project, but now find it very difficult to understand the decision. The experiment is widely regarded as being competitive with the best in the world, and would have delivered world-class results. The cancellation will prevent the UK from undertaking pioneering science having the objective of discovering gravity waves in the earliest moments of the creation of the Universe. The role of gravity waves has been studied theoretically, by the international community, and they are known to be intimately related to the origin and structure of space-time itself. The experimental observation of the moment when the Universe was much less than a billionth of a billionth of a second old would not only be of immense scientific importance, it would have profound cultural significance. It is disappointing the UK will not now be able to maintain its international profile in this rich area of science. The first discovery of the presence of gravity waves will lead to the emergence of a new area of physics, which will mature over some 10-15 years. In anticipation of this new science, the CLOVER team has established a technical capability in the UK that is second to none. Within the life of the project, the team has developed some of the world's most sensitive far-infrared superconducting cameras, it has pioneered the design of new long-wavelength optical systems, it has developed multi-axis telescopes and control systems, and it has created sophisticated computer models of the physics it is seeking to understand. It has also secured a site in the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is one of the world's most sought after locations for astronomy. We strongly believe that this project had in abundance the key elements of a pioneering experiment: in particular the development of innovative and fundamental new technology for the purpose of exploring the physical mechanisms that were at work when the Universe began. The CLOVER team recognises that the STFC is struggling with financial problems at the present time, but is concerned that this decision will not only mean that an important instrument will be lost, but that the UK will be locked out of a profoundly important area of science for many years to come. The loss of the technology and science base that has been accrued in the context of CLOVER will be very difficult to replace when it has gone. Above all, the CLOVER team is acutely aware that many, young gifted scientists have worked on CLOVER for a number of years, and the cancellation of the project will do nothing to encourage talented young people to seek careers in physics and engineering.
This is very disappointing and quite a shock. It undermines the whole peer review process. If a project is rated so highly (as the CLOVER was, and rightly so), it should not be cut. CLOVER is certainly one of the few experiments that have a decent chance of detecting the large-scale B-mode signal. The extra money required is unfortunate, but this is often the case for large ambitious projects, and therefore contingency funds should be made available when this happens. I guess the pot has just run out. I hope that the STFC will seek additional funds from the government, rather than cutting high profile projects, or even cutting other projects. Both of these will lead to the UK losing its high profile status in the astronomy community, which has taken a long time to achieve.
I'd agree that the scientific value of the project is excellent, but if the project had overrun by >50%, there are sufficient grounds for termination. As much as anyone would like to see the project completed rather than abandoned, who can say for sure that further cost overruns wouldn't occur? How many other projects have to give way to this one? And what are the mechanisms in place to justify funding the budget shortfall of an existing project vs. a new one? I don't know if such cost overruns are a norm for these large collaborative physics projects, but normality does not equate justification. Society (and the government) has the right not to be held to ransom to complete an overrun project.