BRITAIN鈥檚 two national observatories, the Royal Edinburgh and the Royal
Greenwich, should be sold or contracted out along with all the services they
provide, says a report published last week.
Management of British telescopes in Hawaii and the Canary Islands should also
be contracted out, suggests the report, although ownership of the telescopes
should remain with the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).
Universities, private companies, other research councils or any group anywhere
in the world which believes it can provide the services or use the
infrastructure competently are being encouraged to bid.
The report is the outcome of an eight-month 鈥減rior options鈥� review of
Britain鈥檚 ground-based astronomy programme, instigated by the Department of
Trade and Industry. Ken Pounds, chief executive of the PPARC and one of three
members on the review panel, says that Britain can no longer afford to run the
astronomy programme in its present form. He believes that by contracting out the
work of the observatories, the same science can be done more cheaply. The report
criticises the observatories鈥� monopoly on providing technical support and
equipment for PPARC projects, claiming this practice stifles competition.
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The Royal Edinburgh Observatory and the Royal Greenwich
Observatory鈥攚hich is now in Cambridge鈥攁re responsible for designing
telescopes and other instruments, as well as maintaining a library and
photographic laboratory and running public awareness programmes. Observation
takes place on Hawaii and La Palma in the Canary Islands. The four sites
together employ some 200 people.
Tony Bell of the IPMS, the union which represents staff at the observatories,
says many scientists fear that contracting out or selling services and equipment
will invite 鈥渃herry-picking bids鈥�. 鈥淧PARC will be left with all the bits that
aren鈥檛 sexy and have funding problems,鈥� he claims.
Richard Ellis, head of the astronomy programme at the University of
Cambridge, calls the steering committee鈥檚 plan 鈥渁bsolutely ridiculous鈥�. He
doubts that any private company will be interested in the astronomy business.
Only five world-class telescopes have been made in Britain since 1960, and there
is no long-term guarantee of future contracts. He predicts that universities may
be forced to step in to 鈥渄efend the nation鈥檚 astronomy programme鈥�.
Bidding for the observatories will start this summer.