The Lovell telescope at the Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, along with the e-Merlin radio telescope network, faces closure after the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced plans to pull funding in March 2028. Observations will cease unless alternative support is found.
Birth of radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank
In December 1945, physicist Bernard Lovell from the University of Manchester ventured into the Cheshire countryside to study cosmic rays using army surplus radar. He unexpectedly discovered radio reflections from ionised trails of shooting stars, marking the birth of radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank. A year later, engineers mounted a radar on a searchlight base for tracking meteors. By the time Sputnik launched in 1957, the Lovell telescope was completed as the world's largest radio telescope, uniquely capable of tracking the Soviet satellite.
With decades of upgrades, Jodrell Bank remained world-class and became the heart of the e-Merlin network, the UK's national radio astronomy capability. However, as of Monday, the network and Jodrell Bank itself are threatened with closure.
Impact on science and researchers
Radio astronomy has transformed our view of the universe, enabling discoveries such as spinning neutron stars, matter swirling around supermassive black holes, and the faint afterglow of the big bang. The funding crisis extends beyond Jodrell Bank. The UK's involvement in the Rubin observatory in Chile will drop by 20%, and work on the Bison solar observation network will fall by 40%. The country is also withdrawing from the Event Horizon Telescope, which captured the first image of a black hole. Astronomers described the news as devastating, shocking, and disastrous.
According to the STFC, it needs to make £162m in savings by 2030, driven by cost overruns from soaring electricity and staff costs and high foreign exchange rates for international collaborations like Cern. Figures obtained by Research Professional News suggest a combined forecast cost overrun of £684m for the four years of the government's latest spending review period.
Cuts across physics fields
Other facilities face cuts as well. The Diamond synchrotron and Isis muon and neutron source in Oxfordshire will remain operational but face reductions. The Clara facility in Cheshire, testing next-generation particle accelerator technologies, is being mothballed. The operating budget for Boulby mine, the UK's only deep underground science facility, is slashed by 40%. There is no funding for the LHCb experiment on the Large Hadron Collider, which could terminate early, leaving 80% of data uncollected.
The STFC aims to prioritise specific research areas, but scientists will go where the best science is done. A recent survey found that nearly 80% of early-career physicists were considering leaving the UK after the funding crisis. The loss of even a fraction would be a blow for UK science and national growth. The task now is to persuade them to stay.
