Artists, Writers, and Scientists Ask UK to Save Jodrell Bank Observatory

More than 100 artists, writers, and scientists are urging the UK government to save Jodrell Bank Observatory, a famous space-watching site in Cheshire, England. The observatory is home to the Lovell telescope, one of the world's most powerful radio telescopes. Its main funder recently announced it would stop paying for the site's key research network by March 2028. The signatories say losing the observatory would be a major blow to science in the UK and around the world.

The letter was sent to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and the head of UK Research and Innovation, known as UKRI. It was signed by well-known names including rock band New Order, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. The letter argues that shutting down the observatory just to save £2.8 million a year is a bad decision. The signatories describe the telescopes as "some of the world's clearest eyes on the sky."

UKRI has an annual budget of nearly £10 billion, but its science arm — the Science and Technology Facilities Council, or STFC — is facing serious money problems. Costs have gone up because of high electricity bills, rising staff wages, and expensive international partnerships. To save money, the STFC announced cuts to dozens of science facilities, instruments, and projects. These cuts are expected to cause around 800 job losses across the UK.

At Jodrell Bank itself, the cuts would end all observations unless new funding is found. About 28 jobs at the site are directly at risk. Nearly 3,000 researchers who use the facility could also be affected. The letter's signatories say this would damage the UK's ability to lead in space science.

Jodrell Bank has a long and impressive history. The Lovell telescope tracked the launch of Sputnik, the world's first satellite, back in 1957. Today, the site is also the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, or SKAO — a huge global project working with telescopes in South Africa and Australia to map the first billion years of the universe. The letter asks: why would the UK want its biggest radio telescope to sit unused right next to the headquarters of such an important global project?

The letter also points out that Jodrell Bank helps keep people safe. It tracks dangerous things in space, such as space debris, solar flares, satellites, and asteroids. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, meaning it is recognized as important to all of humanity. The signatories say it is a source of "national pride and global scientific respect" and are asking the government to find funding for it right away.

Other UK astronomy projects have also been hit by the same round of cuts. The Rubin Observatory in Chile, which just started last month on the largest sky survey in history, faces a 20% cut to UK involvement. The Next-Generation Transit Survey, which searches for solar systems like our own, had its funding cut by 45%. The UK is also pulling out of the Event Horizon Telescope, the project that gave the world its first-ever image of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Scientists say these combined cuts will set back British astronomy for years to come.