A new estimate suggests it will cost somewhere between $ 30 million and $ 50 million to clean up the mess created by the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory’s iconic plate. at the end of last year, according to an NSF report detailing the consequences of the disaster and possible next steps.
The investigation into the cause of the crash at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is still ongoing, but the National Science Foundation, through the Consolidated Credit Act, 2021, has been asked to submit a report to Congress outlining the “causes and extent of the damage, the plan to remove waste in a safe and environmentally friendly way, keeping them [Arecibo Observatory] facilities and surrounding areas and the process of determining the establishment of comparable technology on the spot, together with any estimate of associated costs. ”
The NSF only had 60 days to produce the report on the passage of the law, which could explain why it is so painfully thin in detail. report it’s only seven pages long and it’s full of information I already knew. That being said, NSF provided some new details, such as an estimate of the cost of cleaning, an overview of the damage caused to the installation, and a cleaning update, among other things.
To recap, an auxiliary cable from a support tower detached from the socket on 10 August 2020, leading to considerable damage to the reflector panels below. A main cable on the same tower broke a few months later, resulting in even more damage antenna, which was used for radar and radio astronomy since 1963. the second cable the failure was mostly disturbing, because “this cable broke in conditions that should have been within its support capacity, indicating that it, along with the other main cables, could have been weaker than expected,” according to the new report. Engineering companies brought in to assess the structure said a subsequent cable failure would be catastrophic, leading to decision to decommission the 305 metersmeter) plate. As plans were made for the demolition of storied radio telescope, however, the 900-ton platform gave up, crashing on December 1, 2020.
Inspections after the crash showed that the platform and the Gregorian dome were a “complete loss for scientific purposes,” according to the report. The first 59 feet (18 meters) of the platform 12 and 4 support towers broke during the collapse, and the largest 121 feet (37 meters) of the platform support tower broke. As the report states, “further assessments of the structural integrity of the towers continue”.
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The roof of the Learning Center suffered significant damage, but NSF said it could be repaired. A trailer used by education and public information staff was completely “demolished”, while the Visitor Center was unharmed, except for minor damage caused by falling pieces of concrete, the new report shows..
A private entrepreneur and experts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are is currently conducting a forensic analysis to determine the cause of the original failure of the auxiliary cable socket. A separate contractor conducts forensic investigation in Arecibo, with final reports from both contractors expected in December 2021. In addition to these efforts, NSF calls for an “accelerated independent study” on the cause of cable failures to be completed by the National Academies of Sciences. , Engineering and Medicine.
A company specializing in disaster cleaning and environmental remediation was brought to the rescue. Soils contaminated with hydraulic oils, which were released during the collapse, are removed and removed. The cleaning team also tests groundwater and surface water near the installation. A “Rainwater Pollution Prevention Plan” is underway to “prevent the migration of sediment and off-site pollutants,” as well as wildlife and vegetation studies to help protect vulnerable species, according to the report.
The report lists preliminary estimates of cleaning costs as between $ 30 million and $ 50 million from now until the end of 2022.
NSF is now working with the Puerto Rican State Historic Preservation Office and the Federal Historic Preservation Advisory Council on “the protection and preservation of historically important elements of structures and the site.” Valuable or valuable objects found during the cleaning process could be exhibited at the observatory or sent to museums.
The future of the facility remains unclear. NSF says it is still too early to know how the facility could be repaired or rebuilt to allow for different types of scientific endeavors, adding that the restoration “will require different levels of effort and funding”. The authors said that “many technologies and more than a dozen distinct capabilities” are still in place, including a radio telescope smaller than 40 feet (12 meters) and a LIDAR facility used to study the composition and motion of the ionosphere. Regarding the repair or reinvention of the large vessel, NSF stated that “its process of establishing any significant new scientific facility is based on the priorities set by the scientific community and a rigorous assessment by colleagues of the intellectual merit and wider impact of proposed activity “
A Community workshop planned for next April should provide more information about the Arecibo Observatory and its future.
That a radio antenna could be rebuilt at the installation is not excluded. A proposal to build a $ 450 million “next-generation Arecibo Telescope” was unveiled last month by the observatory. It was a dark day in Arecibo, but there may be reason for optimism.