100,000 signatures obtained for the White House to participate in the petition for the reconstruction of the Arecibo radio telescope

A petition posted on the White House website asking the US Congress to allocate the necessary funds for the reconstruction of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope, which collapsed on December 1, has reached the goal of 100,000 signatures.

“Our petition for #RebuildTheAreciboObservatory has reached 100,000 signatures !!! THANK YOU to everyone who signed the petition, shared their stories and fought for the future of science in Puerto Rico to help us reach this stage !!! “wrote Save the Arecibo Observatory on its official Twitter account.

I can also read: They are collecting signatures for the White House to participate in the reconstruction of the Arecibo radio telescope

In order for the White House to rule on this, they had to collect signatures in 30 days. The request was created on December 2, so they had until January 1 to complete it.

“This telescope had many functions that cannot be replaced by any existing or planned installation. It had the most powerful and sensitive planetary radar system in the world, providing an unparalleled ability to track and characterize asteroids near Earth … I asked Congress to allocate funds to build a new Arecibo radio telescope with larger capacities than the previous telescope to maintain. US leadership in planetary defense, astronomy, and ionospheric studies; and to inspire a new generation of scientists “, the petition states.

You can also read: The Arecibo radio telescope could have been saved

The United States Congress approved Monday night to ask the National Science Foundation (NSF), the owner of the Arecibo Observatory, to present a 60-day report on the possibility of restoring a radio-telescope-like technology, the area cleanup process and damage caused by collapse.

On December 1, around 7:55 a.m., one of the cables leading to one of the three towers supporting the 305-meter platform – consisting of the azimuth arm supporting the Gregorian dome – failed and caused the 900-ton structure to catastrophically collapsed and fell from a height of 450 feet.

However, it all started in August last year, when another support cable fell. In early November, a second cable, this time from the main ones, broke in the same tower. Multiple assessments by independent engineering companies have found that the telescope’s structure is in “danger of catastrophic failure” and that its cables are no longer able to support the tasks for which they were designed.

Following the reports, NSF decided not to fix the radio telescope and announced that it would confiscate it.

Director of the Arecibo Observatory, Francisco CordobaHe pointed out after the crash that the NSF did not accept a number of proposals that, in due course, could have been executed and probably saved the radio telescope.