The US National Science Foundation has announced that it will retire its flagship ocean drilling research vessel rather than extend its operation, as many researchers had hoped. It blamed the US$72 million annual expense of running the 44-year-old vessel
collect core samples from under the sea floor to gain new insights into Earth’s history. Credit: Shuhao Xie/IODP
drilling vessel rather than extend operations until 2028, as many researchers had hoped. It blamed the US$72 million annual expense of running the 44-year-old vessel. Critics say that the decision to retire the vessel will damage US leadership and international collaboration in scientific ocean drilling. “It’s a disaster for the ocean sciences in the US,” says Jamie Austin, a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin.
Announcing the ship’s retirement, the NSF said that it “wants to ensure a sustainable future for the scientific ocean drilling community” and that it would engage with early-career scientists on what that might look like. It said that it intends to keep the funds freed up by retiring theavailable for work in scientific ocean drilling, including studying existing cores.
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