Decided not to rebuild the radio telescope of the collapsed Arecibo Observatory, it will be used as an educational center in the future

by David Lee

On October 13, 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States announced plans to open an education center at the Arecibo Observatory, where major observation equipment has been shut down due to an accident. As a result, it is reported that the radio telescope will not be rebuilt.

US opts to not rebuild renowned Puerto Rico telescope - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-opts-rebuild-renowned-puerto-rico-telescope-91453710

Arecibo News Media | National Science Foundation
https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/arecibo/

Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory telescope was the world's largest radio telescope from its completion in 1963 until it was broken by a Chinese radio telescope in 2016. This gigantic telescope has contributed to numerous scientific discoveries over its long history, and has been familiar to the general public as the setting for the movies ' Contact ' and ' 007/GoldenEye. ' The accident that occurred damaged the telescope and put it out of service.

The world's largest radio telescope collapsed due to an unknown accident and stopped operating - GIGAZINE

by JidoBG

While the parties concerned were making efforts to rebuild the telescope, the NSF decided to dismantle the telescope, judging that the cost and safety issues were serious due to the second accident in a row. After that, the Arecibo Observatory continued to analyze the collected observation data and investigate the accident, but in December 2020, a third accident occurred and the primary mirror completely collapsed.

More than 900 tons of receivers at the Arecibo Observatory fell and crushed the primary mirror - GIGAZINE

And the NSF announced on October 13 that instead of rebuilding the telescope at the Arecibo Observatory, it will build a $5 million education center focused on STEM education and open in 2023. announced that

As mentioned above, the world's largest radio telescope with a size of 305 meters has collapsed, but the Arecibo Observatory still has observation facilities such as a 12-meter radio telescope and LIDAR used for weather surveys. Sean Jones, assistant director of NSF's Office of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, said the decision was related to the ability to continue missions with these instruments.

Abel Mendez, an astronomer at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, said, ``You will probably hear the words 'Arecibo Observatory Papers' in the next few decades. I was worried that it would become a disaster, but I also had higher hopes,' he said, regretting the decision not to rebuild.