09-15-2018, 06:02 PM
terracore - mella asked the same question on the MK discovery thread. I'm reluctant to answer as it's not Hawaii related and also I have no idea. When I first heard the story I thought it might be a mercury leak as the observatory uses an old technology of floating its primary mirror on a thin layer of mercury, but that wouldn't involve the FBI.
My guess is that the shut-down is due to an ITAR or data access security issue, i.e., bad actors possibly getting access to data they shouldn't be able to get. I've been grilled in the recent past about how people access our data (and I'm sure it's the case for every US telescope). But that's really a guess.
My guess is that the shut-down is due to an ITAR or data access security issue, i.e., bad actors possibly getting access to data they shouldn't be able to get. I've been grilled in the recent past about how people access our data (and I'm sure it's the case for every US telescope). But that's really a guess.