In this context, to watch a prized facility literally crumble, as the United States retracted its financial involvement, seems like nothing less than abandonment. In Latin America, infrastructure projects are often tied to ideas about economic development – a potential answer to solve a country’s ills. Through this lens, to watch the Arecibo Observatory be allowed to collapse and become rubble is painful for many, especially when contrasted with defunct observatories in the continental United States, where a number are preserved as historical sites. In many ways, it was a symbol of the island. The Arecibo Observatory occupied a space of pride for Puerto Rican scientists and the local community. Puerto Rican voices are loud here, many recounting childhood memories of hiking up the trail to the Ángel Ramos Visitors’ Center. #WhatAreciboMeansToMe, a hashtag on Twitter, has collected hundreds of stories from locals and tourists, astronomers and enthusiasts alike. Beyond its scientific success, Arecibo signified more. Pride of placeĪ community of astronomers and locals are actively mourning the ruins of Arecibo. On November 19, 2020, the NSF finally announced the official end of operations at the telescope. In 2018, the University of Central Florida took over management of Arecibo and helped it recover from damages sustained by Hurricane Maria.īut the end was coming. In 2015, Robert Kerr, then facilities director of Arecibo, quit – allegedly over funding clashes. However, the balancing act of a flat NSF budget and the promise of other new observatory projects once again threatened the observatory. NSF continued to support Arecibo, with NASA pitching in a third of costs. Optimism about this development soon gave way to pessimism. Instead, the NSF tasked a new consortium to take over the management of Arecibo in 2011, changing it from a federally funded institution to one that could seek funds from other sources. With a second major cut scheduled for four years later, the closure of the facility seemed imminent. The decision to cut Arecibo’s funding was met with resistance from the scientific community and beyond, including the then-governor of Puerto Rico, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who wrote to the NSF requesting reconsideration.īut in 2007 Arecibo’s budget was slashed from US$10.5 to $8 million. The previous year, the NSF had announced it was preparing to reallocate funds between existing facilities in order to initiate “new activities.” These initiatives included the funding and development of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile, starting in 2003. Arecibo was among the first facilities on the chopping block, despite its continued productivity. The National Science Foundation, which supported Arecibo, implemented a 15% budget cut that year across its Division of Astronomical Sciences. commitment to Arecibo began to falter in 2006. In the past decades, it also played a large role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, including broadcasting the first terrestrial message to outer space.īut for all its achievements, U.S. In 1992, it was the first observatory to spot planets outside Earth’s solar system. Completed in 1963, Arecibo collected data that led to one Nobel Prize and played a critical role in a second.
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