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Comment by runako | Hacker News Reader

Every set of deep field imagery reminds me that any point of light we see could be a star, a galaxy, or a cluster of galaxies. The universe is unimaginably vast.

For observatories like Rubin, is there a plan for keeping them open after the funding ends? Is it feasible for Chile to take over the project and keep it going?

On a practical note, what happens to a facility like this if one day it's just locked up? Will it degrade without routine maintenance, or will it still be operational in the event someone can put together funding?

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There are already facilities like this (obviously not as new as Rubin) degrading due to funding, but this is because there's usually no better purpose for them. Space monitoring has been used in the past as a second life for facilities (outreach too), but ~1m class telescopes are good enough now that networks of them are better than a 40+ year old telescope. It's also worth noting bits can be reused: buildings gutted and repurposed, telescopes/instruments moved/sold on, etc.; but the real issue is having the staff to look after these places, and many older facilities are not always as amenable to automation as people might like (especially funding agencies).

Arecibo was about 60 years old for comparison when it collapsed, but there are lots of faculties that are effectively ships of Theseus, with new instruments coming in over time which refresh the faculty (and when that stops happening, then you get concerned).

I just skimmed the budget request, and it looks like NSF is planning on keeping Vera C. Rubin at least through 2026. Really good news!

It will continue with a new instrument after 10 years (spectroscopic) funding permitting. Tololo has been running since the 60s. In California, Lick has been running since the 1880s.

I get that it will run for a long time as long as someone is maintaining it. I am wondering what will happen if the doors are locked and the power is cut for an extended period of time (5+ years), as seems like a very real possibility unless an alternate source of funding can be found.

That won’t happen for this telescope. It has so many unique capabilities that other telescopes would be shuttered first.

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