if the NSF misses one or two weekly payments to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, the facility would be forced to close, disrupting long-term research, says facility director Tony Beasley.
also
At NASA, one casualty could be the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, which until 1 October was being prepared at Cape Canaveral in Florida for an 18 November launch. MAVEN’s principal investigator, Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado Boulder, says that his team can accommodate a brief work stoppage. But if MAVEN, which will study the Martian atmosphere, misses its three-week launch window, it will be delayed until 2016,
(A 3 year wait for something that was going to launch next month probably means wasted resources. There’s also a chance that it becomes a sunk cost as better tech. comes by.)
the FDA has put 45% of its staff on leave and will cut back on food-safety programmes
Given the number of programs being effected, I think it’s really unlikely that no projects will be shut down anywhere because of this.
I’m more worried about biology experiments—some of them need constant maintenance. Do you know whether the folks who are feeding the animals and such are still doing so?
From the linked article:
also
(A 3 year wait for something that was going to launch next month probably means wasted resources. There’s also a chance that it becomes a sunk cost as better tech. comes by.)
Given the number of programs being effected, I think it’s really unlikely that no projects will be shut down anywhere because of this.
I’m more worried about biology experiments—some of them need constant maintenance. Do you know whether the folks who are feeding the animals and such are still doing so?
I did hear about this. Yes, those people were generally considered essential, so they get to work. Article link that mentions this:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/01/228208246/the-shutdown-s-squeeze-on-science-and-health
I just heard a radio report which said that animals are being taken care of, but the results of experiments aren’t being collected.