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After the National Scientific Foundation (NSF) announced last Thursday the demolition and decommissioning of the iconic Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, scientists, experts and many Puerto Ricans have turned to digital platforms to beg the government to save the 57-year-old. observatory.
Many, including researchers and students, are using #SaveTheAreciboObservatory is #WhatAreciboMeansToMe hashtags to share the impact of the observatory in their lives and in the scientific world. A Twitter account called Save the Arecibo Observatory was also created.
“#WhatAreciboMeansToMe: More Than a Telescope”, Kevin Ortiz, physics student at the University of Puerto Rico, wrote on Twitter. For him, the observatory had “an incalculable impact on PR communities”.
Organizations including the Planetary Society are also joining the conversation on social media. “The Arecibo Observatory has touched the lives of so many people. Its scientific findings have enriched our understanding of the universe and helped protect our planet from asteroids,” the organization said in a tweet.
For Ortiz the radio telescope is not only a Puerto Rican landmark, it is also a symbol of inspiration.
“I had visited the observatory as a child many times and it is responsible for sparking my interest in astronomy,” Ortiz told ABC News.
The 22-year-old undergraduate is in his final year of college and has worked as an astronomy researcher in the Planetary Habitability Laboratory for more than two years. Planet HabLab is a virtual research and education laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo that uses the radio telescope to study the habitable universe.
“The observatory is very important for science globally. It is also very important for education, the training of the new generation of students,” said Abel Méndez, professor at the University of Puerto Rico and director of Planet HabLab. . “I teach students to work at the observatory”.
Méndez, whose help guides Ortiz, trains students to work at the observatory by doing research. “They learn to use the observatory,” added Méndez.
“I can go around with the people showing the observatory and he would be in the control room making observations,” Méndez spoke of Ortiz’s work.
The revolutionary radio telescope was instrumental in tracking asteroids. Among the observatory’s many achievements is the discovery of the first exoplanets in 1992 and it was the first to see a planet orbiting a sun-like star in 1995.
The observatory’s impact has led many to join a petition presented to the White House to keep the radio telescope running.
“We are calling for emergency action for the Army Corps of Engineers or another agency to evaluate the telescope’s structure and look for a safe way to stabilize it, to provide time for other actions to consider and perform.” reads the petition, signed by over 20,000 people.
Despite the structural damage reported to the telescope, Méndez and Ortiz say there may be a way to save the telescope.
Two cables holding the 900-ton platform suspended 450 feet above the ground broke apart, tearing apart the 1,000-foot reflector.
“We don’t complain about the engineering assessment, we know there are risks,” said Méndez.
Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico-resident commissioner, wrote a letter to Congress calling for action to save the observatory. “We respectfully request that the necessary funds be allocated to allow NSF to continue exploring options to safely stabilize the facility and maintain the telescope and surrounding areas,” González’s letter states. “We are aware that the funds could be used to stabilize and work on repairs immediately.”
According to González’s letter, repairs to the damaged auxiliary cables were already underway in August.
“Our question was not whether the observatory should be repaired, but how. But in the end, a preponderance of data showed that we simply couldn’t do it safely. And that’s a line we can’t cross,” NSF said in a press release from last week. “Even in the event of future repairs, the engineers found that the structure would likely have long-term stability problems.”
Despite NSF’s position, some scientists, including Méndez, believe that with real commitment from several organizations, including the NSF, the telescope could be rescued, restored or even rebuilt.
The radio telescope is subject to a cooperation agreement between the University of Central Florida, which manages and operates the facility, Yang Enterprises, Inc., Ana G. Méndez University and the federal agency NSF.
For many experts, the harsh news of the telescope’s official shutdown came as sad news, but not as a surprising announcement.
Méndez says NSF has in the past “cut back on funding from Arecibo and other observers.” According to Méndez and Ortiz, the foundation has started funding more structures with newer technologies, leaving the observatory behind.
NSF told ABC News in a statement that it “has not decreased funding for the observatory. Instead, in addition to the operating budget of the Arecibo Observatory, NSF has provided millions of dollars for new equipment and technology, representing an investment in the future of the observatory “.
“The decision to plan for decommissioning is necessary for safety reasons, and also provides NSF with the ability to preserve as much infrastructure as possible for the future of science at the observatory,” the statement continued.
Three years ago, the foundation produced a plan to reduce funding to Arecibo if new contributors made the compensatory investments, but the plan did not emerge, according to the NSF.
Some Arecibo Observatory programs involving the analysis and cataloging of archived data will continue to receive NSF support, the federal agency said.
Regardless of the multiple roadblocks, the scientific community, students and Puerto Ricans say they will continue to push until something is done to preserve the observatory. “Arecibo is a facility that is absolutely worth saving,” Ortiz said. “It is a vital tool for planetary protection and planetary defense … for tracking asteroids close to Earth.”
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