NASA may shut down one of its four great observatories

Lack of funds may soon force American space agency NASA to shut down one of its four great observatories - the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Launched in 2003 to study the universe through the lens of an infrared camera, the Spitzer has so far remained one of the most fruitful pieces of equipment owned by NASA.
Liquid nitrogen, which is essential to keep its instruments cool, ran out in 2009, making it lose functionality on two of its three key instruments. In April this year, a NASA advisory panel reluctantly recommended that the space agency should close the project unless it finds a way to bring its cost down. Currently, the project costs the exchequer nearly $16.5 million per year.
Spitzer managers admitted that government's budget for space projects was under intense pressure. However, even the Senior Review Panel warned that that lack of funds for space projects could damage the US' preeminence in the space study to an irreparable level.
The advisory panel said, "The operation of the nation's space-borne observatories is so severely impacted by the current funding climate that the SRP feels that American preeminence in the study of the universe from space is threatened to the point of irreparable damage."
Using longer wavelengths of infrared light, the Spitzer can see through the profuse amounts of dust & gas clouds in the deep space and observe the origins of stars and galaxies. At its existing 'warm' mission state, the telescope logs in nearly seven thousand observation hours per year.