{"id":217357,"date":"2025-06-10T13:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T23:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=217357"},"modified":"2025-06-10T13:51:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T23:51:38","slug":"uh-astronomy-faces-massive-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/10\/uh-astronomy-faces-massive-budget-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> astronomy faces massive budget cuts: IfA<\/abbr> director weighs in"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Observatories
Observatories on Maunakea (Photo credit: W.M. Keck Observatory)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Severe budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration to NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF<\/abbr>) are raising major concerns within Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s astronomy community. Aside from the potential loss of federal funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope, funding reductions could also have wide-ranging implications for the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>), its research and its students. IfA<\/abbr> is a globally renowned research center and home to one of the world\u2019s largest university-based astronomy programs, with observatories on Maunakea and Haleakal\u0101 that have helped make some of the most remarkable cosmic discoveries ranging from exoplanets to distant galactic phenomena.<\/p>\n

\"Simons
Doug Simons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UH<\/abbr> News sat down with IfA<\/abbr> Director Doug Simons to discuss how the proposed cuts may affect Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s standing in the global astronomy community.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake moving forward?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: The proposed fiscal year 2026 budgets at NASA and NSF<\/abbr> have been cut severely and pretty much uniformly. Almost half of the Science Mission Directorate\u2019s budget at NASA has been cut, and a comparable 50% or so has been cut at NSF<\/abbr>. So for astronomy here in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, there are a number of facilities that are directly impacted, including 17% cut from the W.M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea and 39% cut in the U.S. portion of the Gemini International observatory. We’re also looking at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT<\/abbr>) no longer being funded through the construction queue at NSF<\/abbr> as part of this whole process.<\/p>\n

What impact could these cuts have on grad students and research efforts at IfA<\/abbr>?<\/h2>\n
\"Institute
Institute for Astronomy headquarters at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Simons<\/strong>: Yes, a large fraction of our graduate program is sponsored by NASA and NSF<\/abbr>, so our education program is definitely put at risk by these proposed cuts. The related threat of reduced numbers of observatories means that our research program at IfA<\/abbr> is also at risk. It\u2019s important to realize that a large fraction of observing time at IfA<\/abbr> goes to our graduate students and programs involving undergraduates, giving them unique research opportunities compared to most other astronomy graduate programs. So again, I have a lot of concern near and long term about the impacts of these cuts to our research and education program, and associated knock-on effects.<\/p>\n

What would the cuts mean for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST<\/abbr>) on Haleakal\u0101, and its role in training UH<\/abbr> astronomy students?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: I’m very concerned about DKIST<\/abbr>. They also have a proposed 40% cut, and that’s a brand new, $350+ million state-of-the-art solar telescope, the best ever built, that\u2019s just out of the “starting blocks.” I honestly don’t know what problem is solved by massive cuts to a brand new observatory like DKIST<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

Would you say Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is a global leader in astronomy?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> astronomy is number one in the world in terms of science output, and that is absolutely at risk with deep cuts proposed in the NASA and NSF<\/abbr> programs. Much of the U.S. northern hemisphere ground based astronomy program is in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, so those cuts go right to the core of U.S. astronomy research. There are also proposed cuts in Federal research facilities in Chile, so the net effect, if we do not turn this around, will be widespread and lasting. It takes a long time to design, build, fund and operate these observatories and a large part of 21st century astronomy leadership will likely go to Europe\/Asia, where budgets for astronomy research remain supportive.<\/p>\n

If these cuts move forward, what impact could it have on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s economy, considering astronomy provides local jobs and brings in significant funding?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: The latest (2019) estimate is astronomy provides about $220 million of economic impact statewide<\/a>, with about half of that on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island. Nearly 600 people are employed by the Maunakea Observatories, making Maunakea astronomy one of the largest providers of good-paying STEM jobs on the island. The combined operating budgets for the Maunakea Observatories is $70 million – $80 million annually, with most of those funds being directly injected into the local economy through the salaries of observatory staff. More than $2 million is invested annually by the Maunakea Observatories in education and outreach programs across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island. Over a hundred companies help support Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> observatories, diversifying economic benefits across a wide range of contractors and professionals. The total number of people directly employed by astronomy is closer to 1,000 including Maui and Oʻahu<\/span>, where similar economic “multipliers” occur.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr>-operated telescopes in partnership with NASA play a leading role in spotting potentially dangerous asteroids. What does the funding picture currently look like for UH<\/abbr>\u2019s planetary defense work?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: I was relieved to see that NASA retained its planetary defense program as a high priority. For IfA<\/abbr>, that secures the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF<\/abbr>) on Maunakea, PanSTARRS, which includes a pair of telescopes on Haleakal\u0101, and ATLAS. There are now five ATLAS telescopes worldwide, which basically serve as the last stand, if you will, for detecting potential earth impactors. That’s a total of eight telescopes IfA<\/abbr> owns\/operates that could have been lost had NASA decided that the planetary defense program was not a priority. I’m pleased to say that amongst everything else going on, that survived.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the direction these proposed cuts are taking, especially given your decades of experience in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> astronomy?<\/h2>\n

Simons<\/strong>: It is extremely disappointing, particularly because I’ve watched the evolution of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> astronomy throughout most of my career, and the net effect of these recent decisions, which again are completely self-inflicted, is to diminish our ability to answer some of the most fundamental questions in science. It doesn’t have to be that way. We are decisions away from being able to stop this, but if we don’t, we’re looking at widespread damage to long-standing investments of broad state, national and international benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Institute for Astronomy Director Doug Simons discusses potential impacts to the globally renowned research center, faculty and students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":158046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[34,197,1674,656,35,1363,659,1421,1164,14,9],"class_list":["post-217357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-astronomy","tag-economics","tag-executive-orders","tag-haleakala","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-manoa-research","tag-maunakea","tag-maunakea-observatories","tag-telescope","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/system-maunakea-telescopes.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217357"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217409,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217357\/revisions\/217409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}