Facing imminent funding shortages, astronomers are urging the Mexican government to recommit support to the country's most renowned astronomical facility—the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT).
According to Science, researchers have issued warnings in two recent letters to senior Mexican officials, stating that unless the government agrees to continue assisting with the operational costs of the LMT, funds will be depleted by August 31.
In one of these letters dated March 19 addressed to Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O, LMT director David Hughes and five other researchers emphasized the need for urgent action "to ensure the operation of Mexico's flagship scientific project."
The Large Millimeter Telescope, located in Mexico atop a dormant volcano in the state of Puebla, is a joint effort between the United States and Mexico and stands as the world's largest single-aperture steerable millimeter-wave telescope. Operational since 2011, its purpose is to observe radio signals at millimeter wavelengths, which convey information about cosmic cold gas and dust clouds.
By linking the LMT with other radio telescopes around the world, astronomers created the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), spanning the globe and capturing the first image of a black hole in 2019. According to astronomer Ivan Martí-Vidal from the University of Valencia in Spain, the size and location of the LMT make it a crucial component of the EHT.
In 2018, the Mexican government agreed to provide $9 million to the LMT over three years to cover the country's share of operating costs, drawn from a trust fund established to support scientific research. However, in 2020, the government canceled and restructured some of these trust funds, introducing uncertainty regarding future funding for the LMT.
Despite this uncertainty, operators of the LMT have managed to access funds to sustain its operations in recent years. However, they warn that without government action, these funds will soon be depleted, jeopardizing an instrument that cost over $200 million to build and could contribute to scientific discoveries in the years to come.
F. Peter Schloerb, director of the office overseeing the LMT and an astronomer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States, highlights that a funding interruption would also endanger the jobs of approximately 50 technicians and scientists associated with the LMT.
Physicist Julia Tagüe?a from the National Autonomous University of Mexico asserts that to avoid this outcome, Mexico needs to establish a reliable mechanism for funding the LMT.
As of now, over 1,300 people have signed a petition to support the LMT, but it remains unclear how the government will respond. As one of the signatories, Schloerb hopes to weather the crisis, stating that "Mexico has always come through."
