The Governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, today signed the 2020-96 Executive Order to establish as a public policy the reconstruction of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope.
This, so that “it reappears as a world-class educational center.”
The executive order sets an allocation of $ 8 million for reconstruction efforts, which include remedying environmental damage by removing and safely disposing of the affected material, which has already begun under the auspices of the National Science Foundation.
At a press conference, the governor said that this day is a “great opportunity” to bring back the scientific and tourist attraction to what it was.
“We could not leave without putting our two cents in science,” the chief executive continued.
On December 1, the last cables holding what is known as the Gregorian dome failed, a platform weighing about 900 tons and hitting the 305-meter-diameter plate, causing more damage.
While on Friday, November 6, a main cable failed at the Arecibo Observatory, around 7:39 at night, causing damage to the main board of the installation.
Unlike the auxiliary cable that failed in the same installation on August 10, this main cable did not come out of the socket, but broke and fell on the reflector vessel below, causing additional damage to that vessel 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 vessel because it did not consider it safe to repair it.
The Arecibo Observatory was established in 1963, but has been modernized and expanded several times, so that it has not lost its validity in the investigation.