Astronomers meet this week in Washington to discuss the future of Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the largest radio telescope in the world. The leading item on the agenda is how to prevent the telescope — 1,000 feet wide (300 meters) — from going to the scrap yard.
In November 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) advised cuts of 20 to 25 percent in Arecibo's funding to free up money for new NSF initiatives. The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which runs Arecibo, needs $4 million to avoid a shutdown. (In an earlier blog, I talked about why you might care whether Arecibo shuts down or not.)
The last paragraph of a United Press International wire service story caught my eye: "Arecibo site director Robert B. Kerr says rather than count on Congress, he is trying to get creative when it comes to funding sources. One idea: selling naming rights to a private corporation, much the way sports venues do."
It wouldn't be the first time private industry and the scientific establishment shook hands. Earlier this year, Google joined a private-public consortium building a next-generation survey observatory, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).
Last week, NASA and Discovery Communications (owner of the Discovery Channel) announced a media partnership to commemorate the space program's 50th anniversary, in 2008. (The space agency began operations Oct. 1, 1958.)
Who knows? Corporate branding could save space science and exploration, which always seems to be hurting for money. I have a few ideas.
The world's largest digital camera was just installed in Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), another planned next-generation survey telescope. How about the Canon Survey Telescope? The Mt. Olympus Observatory?
The James Webb Space Telescope is slated for launch in 2013. To insure adequate funding for operations, how about selling shares to entities from private industry involved in astronomy? The Celestron Space Telescope? The Astronomy Magazine Orbiting Observatory? (I would volunteer to go up and change the batteries.)
NASA's Constellation program to develop the next generation of crewed space vehicles is well on its way to orbit. But to insure funding through the rollout in 2015, the program could be sold to Sir Richard Branson and turned into a division of Virgin Galactic, the new space-tourism company. Branson could offer economy-class seats into space for poorer countries that want to explore the solar system, subsidizing the cost with expensive first-class tickets purchased by U.S. astronauts and wealthy space tourists.
When the International Space Station (ISS) is finally finished, sell it to Hilton and convert it into a four-star space tourist hotel. Leave a few science compartments functioning for experiments with bugs and bees and whatever else passes for research on the ISS at that point.
Finally, NASA's Deep Space Network could use a paint job after decades of service. But who will pay? The network is integral to space exploration. It's an international array of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe.
I propose to sell it to telecommunications tyrant Rupert Murdoch, chairman of British Sky Broadcasting and owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, who will probably buy it some day anyway. With Rupert in charge, we will be assured of a fair and balanced perspective on the cosmos.