The Chandra X-ray spacecraft may soon go dark, threatening a great deal of astronomy

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. To be clear, Chandra still works.

Funds are being allocated to shut the program down, but not enough to support active operations. The justification is the spacecraft just doesn't work as efficiently as it did when launched.

True it's old, and not as spry as it once was, but those clever scientists at NASA have developed work-around thermal models and processes to manage the situation and have done so with amazing success – experiencing little or no decrease in observing efficiency.

So the Powers That Be -- in spite of an independent review that recommended an increase in the staffing of the project -- are planning to shut the telescope down, thereby depriving Xray astronomers of a major source of data.

Chandra is younger than Hubble. When will that system -- which is still producing good scientific information -- be on the chopping block?