The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has decided not to rebuild the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Arecibo Observatory closed in August 2020 due to damages caused three years ago.
Instead, NSF has solicited bids to establish a “new, world-class multidisciplinary learning center” for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The Arecibo Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education and Research (ACSER), as the center is called, “is a center for STEM discovery and research by building on existing programs and opportunities currently underway at the Arecibo Observatory site. He will act as a facilitator, such as in addition to creating and implementing new programs and initiatives for education, research and outreach in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
The Arecibo Observatory was completed in 1963. The main instrument, the Arecibo Radio Telescope, at 305 meters (1,000 ft), was named China’s 500-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST, or Tianyan) in 2016. The observatories played a role in Many important scientific discoveries, including the discovery of the first binary pulsar.
After being damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, Arecibo remained in operation until 2020, when a heavy cable fell and damaged the telescope’s main shaft. Efforts to preserve the telescope failed, and in November 2020, a decision was made to demolish the damaged structure.
“The scientific community has expressed broad support for the expansion of educational facilities,” the National Science Foundation said in a statement.
Dr John Barentin, astronomer and principal advisor at Dark Sky Consulting said: registration Although he is not a radio astronomer, he said in an email that he sees the loss of Arecibo as a severe blow to the global astronomical research project.
“While there are other similar facilities, such as FAST in China, the Arecibo is a full-featured telescope that has not only collected data for astronomical and upper-atmospheric studies, but also generated new data throughout its history. It was also one of the most important test telescopes for technology.” He said.
Barentin sees the telescope as a lesson for the long-term management of American scientific research facilities. “The astonishing collapse of the instrument platform in December 2020 was dramatic, but the end of the telescope has slowly rolled over over the years as federal support for the observatory has been gradually withdrawn,” he said.
“This is not the first time. The original Green Bank Telescope at the NRAO facility in West Virginia collapsed without warning in 1988.”
While the spectacular collapse of the instrument tower in December 2020 was dramatic, the telescope’s end has been slowly rolling over the years.
According to Barentin, private funding has not proven sufficient to sustain Arecibo as he grows older and more needy. He argues that this is something the government should consider.
“Many radio, optical, and infrared telescopes in the pool of federally funded facilities are of the same age, and their maintenance costs are rising over time,” he said.
“This must be weighed once morest their perceived scientific productivity. See: Science budgets must make tough decisions to make breakthroughs.”
Dr. Tracy Baker, research and development group leader in the Department of Aerospace Science and Engineering at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), would have liked a different result.
She said in a phone interview registration The decision not to rebuild has important implications for all areas of science conducted by the Arecibo Observatory, especially astronomy, planetary science, space and atmospheric observations.
“This is an unfortunate development because a lot of equipment at the Arecibo Observatory is still working,” Baker said. It is clear that the 305-meter-high observatory was in poor condition following the collapse.”
“We have a LIDAR facility. We have a 12-meter telescope in operation now, and it’s making some very unique observations of the Sun and tracking weathering in space.”
Many instruments at the Arecibo Observatory are still working
Becker said the Arecibo Radio Telescope has surpassed China’s speed in size but remains the world’s most powerful radar system for planetary science. I think “. “A lot had been done before the collapse, but there is still a lot that can be done with a modest reinvestment in the facility.”
Becker said the decision not to rebuild affected all the radar science that was going on in Arecibo.
“We were able to use radar to penetrate the clouds of Venus and actually study the surface. We looked at Mercury and found ice on Mercury’s surface. We were in the lunar reconnaissance. We were looking at the moon in the orbiter, we were studying Mars, obviously the most important thing is to study asteroids and understand where those asteroids are and how big they are.”
Radar is a unique tool for this type of observation and measurement, Becker said, because it can determine an asteroid’s speed and trajectory more accurately than other methods.
“Goldstone has that ability, but Arecibo was stronger, so people might have done it better,” she said. So it is a very big loss.”
Becker notes that Arecibo’s location near the equator is particularly valuable for studies of the ionosphere because it produces different data than facilities found elsewhere.
She also said that the idea of relocating Arecibo to an educational center ignores the role the facility has played in promoting science education, which is said to have been initiated.
There are no facilities, no equipment, and no more funding for scientists to work there.
“A lot of the education that’s already happening at Arecibo comes from the ability of these students to work directly with scientists, and they already have important educational programs,” she said.
“But without the facilities and equipment, there would be no more funding for scientists to actually work there. You will suffer from the fact that the program already exists.”
Becker said China’s FAST is the only other telescope that comes close to what Arecibo has been doing. “I think the United States should try to do better than what China is currently doing,” she said, adding that China’s FAST telescope does not yet have radar capabilities.
“But we’ve been doing it and doing it really well for decades,” she said. And I think that’s what we should do.”
