The Governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, today signed the Executive Order 2020-96 to establish as a public policy the reconstruction of the radio telescope of the Arecibo Observatory.
This, so that it “resurfaces as a world-class educational center.”
The Executive Order establishes an allocation of $ 8 million for reconstruction efforts, which include the remediation of environmental damage with the removal and safe disposal of the affected material, which has already begun under the supervision of the National Foundation of Sciences.
At a press conference, the governor assured that this day is a “great opportunity” to return the scientific and tourist attraction to what it was.
“We couldn’t leave without putting our grain of sand into science,” the first executive continued.
On December 1, the last cables supporting what is known as the Gregorian dome failed, a platform that weighed about 900 tons and hit the plate 305 meters in diameter, causing major damage.
While on Friday, November 6, a main cable failed at the Arecibo Observatory, at about 7:39 pm, causing damage to the main dish of the facility.
Unlike the auxiliary cable that failed in the same installation on August 10, this main cable did not come out of its socket, but broke and fell on the reflector plate below, causing additional damage to this dish and other nearby cables, was reported on Sunday, November 8th.
On November 19, the National Science Foundation of the United States (NSF) announced that it would dismantle the dish, as it did not consider it feasible to repair it safely.
The Observatory of Arecibo was established in 1963 but it had been modernized and extended in several occasions, reason why it did not lose use in the investigation.