A science education center is scheduled to open soon at the site of the mighty Arecibo telescope, and pilot phase programs were run there over the summer. However, some still have concerns that this is a token gesture that will fail to take the great telescope’s place. Astronomers are also waiting to hear about the fate of smaller instruments at the site, which remain able to perform research.
The former giant telescope at Arecibo has a unique place in the history of astronomy. Nestled in a vast sinkhole and opened in 1963, it had a power to send and receive signals that was unmatched for decades. This made up for the limited flexibility in what it could study, and saw it be the first place to radar a comet, discover the first planets beyond the Solar System, and send a message to aliens.
There is little room for sentiment in science funding, however, and many at the NSF questioned if the $7.5 million being directed to the Observatory each year five years ago was good value. Astronomers who loved the dish had to fight repeated battles to keep the money flowing, or to find alternative sources of funding. When parts of the instrument collapsed in 2020 the astronomical community grieved.
A year ago, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced $5.5 million in funding over five years to create an education center at the site of the former observatory. Rather than focusing on astronomy alone, the center will offer Puerto Ricans and tourists alike an opportunity for to learn about many areas of science.
The project is to be called Arecibo Center for Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Science Education, Computational Skills, and Community Engagement (Arecibo C3). If nothing else, the NSF is honoring the astronomical tradition of giving names to projects that can be reduced to a catchy acronym or other shortening.
“The new educational center builds on the great scientific, educational and cultural legacy of the Arecibo Observatory and is closely aligned with NSF’s goal to create STEM opportunities everywhere,” said the NSF’s James L. Moore III in a statement. “The center aims to create new opportunities for STEM education, exploration, discovery, engagement and participation of students, scientists and researchers in various STEM disciplines ranging from astronomy and radio science to biological, computer and natural sciences in Puerto Rico and beyond.”
The center will be run by two Puerto Rican institutions (The University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras and Unversidad de Sagrado Corazon), the University of Maryland, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, known as the home of eight Nobel Prize winning geneticists.
However, Arecibo is not just the place where the constants of the universe were measured and Mercury was proven not to be tidally locked – it was also Puerto Rico’s most internationally prominent scientific institution. For the economically struggling territory, undecided about its relationship to the United States as a whole, the observatory was both a generator of economic activity and a symbol of partnership between the island and the national government.
On that basis, around a million dollars a year for five years doesn’t look like a convincing commitment, whether or not you agree with the decision to go scientifically broad rather than focus on astronomy.
When the announcement was made, Professor Ubaldo Córdova Figueroa of UPR Mayagüez questioned whether students would come to a remote part of the island without the draw of the mighty dish. “You don’t have that asset now,” Córdova Figueroa told Nature at the time. Former director of the site Olga Figueroa Miranda questioned in the same article if the funds were sufficient to create a center people would travel to.
As the anniversary of the announcement passes, there is little sign that excitement is building. The new Center’s account on X has 18 followers as of the time of writing, and last tweeted in May. That might be a sign of the decline of the site formerly known as Twitter, but the Center’s Facebook account has 37 followers as of the time of writing and minimal engagement with their handful of posts.
The website itself is promoting the pilot project for school students, which finished more than three months ago. If the center is to open in November, as promised in a May NSF announcement, it could do with more buzz.
The famous 305-meter (1,000-foot) dish may be unusable and being reclaimed by the rainforest, but other instruments are still in good condition. Whether these will be funded to keep working – potentially forming a symbiosis with Arecibo C3, or transported elsewhere – remains unknown. Researchers with connections to the site are anxious. “In particular, we want to know what will happen to a 39-foot radio telescope that continues to make important observations,” Professor Abel Méndez of the University of Puerto Rico told Science Friday in June.
Arecibo’s future could indicate NSF’s commitment to science and science education in Puerto Rico, not just the parts of the country that get to vote for Congress. Hopefully we will see some signs soon.
