I don't believe it's shutting down? The website appears to be stable, and its users are donating $2,285/month to support it [1]. It seems both technically and financially stable to me. Let me know if I'm missing something though.
I'm really curious as to what the current operating costs are.
Where did you hear this? There's nothing in the announcements about a shutdown aside from the maintenance on the 6th.
Oops, I must be confusing it with a different instance.
In addition to other responses, an instance shutting down has historically validated the concept of decentralization. Instance announces, people export, choose another instance, thank the old one for its service. I've seen this a couple of times now. Zero drama.