US shutdown delays space missions but NASA not grounded: The partial shutdown of the American federal government has had a serious impact on the NASA space agency and the development work on most of the future space missions has slowed down or suspended. However, NASA has not been completely removed from partial government shutdown starting on December 22, because last-minute talk in Congress failed to end budget deficit.
More than 95 percent of the space agency has become helpless. As a result, various research projects including Hubble Space Telescope have been stopped, Space.com reported on Wednesday. Hubble faced a mechanical problem, which could only repair NASA employees. Many workers outside the Johnson Space Center in Houston also gathered to oppose the shutdown and its deadly effect on their life and country’s space programs.
US shutdown delays space missions but NASA not grounded: Report
During the shutdown, the facility of the open-ended telescope will soon be out of money and shut down operations. In this, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), a federally funded organization that operates Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), Green Bank Telescope and Very Large Array (VLA), said.
After the January 12, the record of partial closure becomes the longest, in 1995-96, the previous records of 21-day deadlock in the leadership of then-President Bill Clinton surpassed the record. President Donald Trump and Congress have been in Loggerheads for their demand to include funding of $ 5.7 billion in the budget to build a boundary wall with Mexico border. Democratic leaders have rejected their call.
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory also called “Flying Telescope” for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has ceased operation even after closure. US shutdown delays space missions but NASA not grounded.
According to the report, the telescope, which is on the fringe of the Boeing 747 plane, has not been able to fly.
However, in spite of the shutdown, some “leaving” employees remain on duty, assisting astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and other space missions, the report said.
Last week, astronauts in ISS carried out many scientific experiments and public-outreach work. They were engaged in an orbital Q & A with schoolchildren, and the training in ISS ranged from the nature of the research done for the type of astronauts, answering a number of questions whether your ears pop in space.
On January 13, the SpaceX Dragon Cargo Capsule left the orbiting laboratory for the Earth, eventually leaping into the Pacific Ocean. Robot Dragon brought hardware for important scientific research and exams at Terra Farma here.
It has been said in the report that other active space missions include NASA probe, OSIRIS-REX and New Horizons spacecraft, which continue to collect data of Earth’s orbit and Moon, Mars, Jupiter and beyond.
