The Spitzer Space Telescope, one of NASA’s ‘Four Great Observatories’, may soon be shut down for budget purposes, even though the telescope is one of the most productive pieces of equipment NASA owns.

In 2003 the Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in order to study the universe through the lens of an infrared camera. The longer wavelengths of infrared light allowed the Spitzer Space Telescope to see through the copious amounts of dust and gas clouds populating deep space and observe the origins of stars and the galaxies.

It also observed stars flanked by discs of dust that were nubile planets. The telescope also was able to peek into the past, looking at galaxies whose light has been stretched from visible and ultraviolet wavelengths by the expansion of the universe.

In order to perform such high-tech functions, the Spitzer Space Telescope’s instruments had to be cooled by liquid nitrogen. Once the liquid nitrogen ran out in 2009, Spitzer lost functionality on two out of its three core instruments. Subsequently, the telescope shifted its observations to near-infrared wavelengths and became a popular telescope to investigate extrasolar planets.

Over the past few years, the telescope has become increasingly popular for scientists; the demand for use of the telescope outpaces the supply time available. At its current ‘warm’ mission state, Spitzer logs in an average of 7,000 observation hours (or approximately 292 days) a year.

Even though scientific demand is high, and the usefulness of the Spitzer Space Telescope is readily observed, funding gaps and politics threaten to shut down this Great Observatory.

In April, a NASA advisory panel reluctantly recommended to end the Spitzer Space Telescope program unless it could find a way to reduce the program’s cost, approximately $16.5 million a year.

“The operation of the nation’s space-borne observatories is so severely impacted by the current funding climate in Washington that the SRP feels that American preeminence in the study of the universe from space is threatened to the point of irreparable damage if additional funds cannot be found to fill the projected funding gaps,” the panel wrote.

Although the fate of the telescope is uncertain, an answer will almost certainly be revealed at the end of June when the NASA general budgeting schedule is to be released.