What will happen to the Arecibo Observatory?

Following a review of engineering assessments that found damage to the Arecibo Observatory cannot be stabilized without risk to construction workers and staff at the facility, the U.S. National Science Foundation will begin plans to decommission the 305-meter telescope, which for 57 years has served as a world-class …

Are there any plans to rebuild Arecibo?

Officials have emphasized that Arecibo will continue to exist, but the agency has not committed to rebuilding the telescope as it stood, or to supporting a new project at similar scale. The grand design isn’t the only option the NSF will contemplate when it decides what to do with the telescope’s legacy.

Are they going to replace Arecibo?

Scientists try to keep work going at the famed observatory after its telescope collapsed in December. Some scientists believe that a replacement for the telescope — which could cost as much as $500 million — should be considered. …

Can Arecibo Observatory Be Saved?

Data from the collapsed Arecibo radio telescope are being safely moved and preserved to the Texas Advanced Computing Center of UT Austin. A multi-institutional partnership formed to safely transfer over three petabytes of data from 50 years of Arecibo sky scans.

Why did the Arecibo telescope fall?

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the site, determined that the platform was too unstable to safely repair and decided to decommission the instrument. Before that could happen, the telescope collapsed on its own on Dec. 1.

What caused Arecibo collapse?

REVEALED: Collapse of ‘GoldenEye’ Arecibo Observatory was likely caused by faulty cable snapping.

How much did it cost to build Arecibo?

Arecibo Observatory: Overview and History The Arecibo Observatory includes 118 acres; its reflector covers 18 acres – or the size of nearly 24 football fields. When completed in 1963, the observatory cost $9.3 million.

How much would it cost to rebuild the Arecibo Observatory?

WASHINGTON — A report by the National Science Foundation estimates it will cost up to $50 million to clean up the damage from the collapsed Arecibo radio telescope, but that it is still too soon to determine whether or how to rebuild the famous observatory.

Will the Arecibo radio telescope be repaired?

“Right now, we basically can’t replace it,” he said of Arecibo’s planetary radar. “There are no existing facilities that come even close to its capabilities that are currently available.” However, there are radio telescopes that could provide some planetary radar capabilities in the relatively near future.

Why did the Arecibo telescope collapse?

The telescope’s massive science platform, which weighed in at 900 tons, was suspended above the vast radio dish by three dozen supporting cables. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the site, determined that the platform was too unstable to safely repair and decided to decommission the instrument.

Why can’t Arecibo be fixed?

The agency decided not to attempt repairs to the telescope after cables broke in August and early November because engineering firms concluded that it would be unsafe for crews to perform the repair work. At a Dec. 3 media briefing, NSF officials released video of the collapse.

What did Arecibo cost?

Arecibo Observatory telescope cleanup could cost up to $50 million, NSF reports. Cleaning up the collapsed radio telescope at the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico could cost between $30 million and $50 million, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF).