NASA and the German space agency ground the telescope on a plane, citing the astronomy community’s concerns over cost and productivity
NASA and the German Aerospace Center are permanently shutting down the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy , a telescope on an aeroplane that has been scrutinized for years for its high cost and low scientific output. Since 2014, the observatory has made hundreds of flights above the water vapour in Earth’s atmosphere to get an unobscured view of celestial objects and to gather data at infrared wavelengths.
“It’s a very difficult decision, and certainly very painful for everyone who has worked on the mission,” says John O’Meara, chief scientist at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Kamuela, Hawaii, who has worked on long-term plans for astronomy and astrophysics in the United States. But “it’s the right call”.
SOFIA collects data that are not gathered by either ground-based observatories or space-based infrared telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched last year. It is the only observatory that can currently make observations at some far-infrared wavelengths. “SOFIA is globally unique,” said Walther Pelzer, head of the German space agency, in a statement announcing its closure.
In response to the reviews, SOFIA brought in a new director, Margaret Meixner, and ramped up its focus on scientific productivity. “SOFIA has been transformed over the last three years,” Meixner says, doubling its annual publication rate over that period.