The well known observatory, once the major radio telescope on Earth, collapsed in 2020 after a variety of its cables commenced to fall short.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has resolved to transform the legendary Arecibo Observatory into a STEM-targeted schooling centre.
The 305-metre radio telescope, built internationally well-known by motion pictures such as GoldenEye and Get hold of, was regarded as a beacon for breakthrough science.
The observatory operated for 57 a long time but was established to be decommissioned in 2020 following a series of incidents still left it damaged past repair. The platform collapsed at the end of 2020 right after a 3rd cable snapped off.
Problems to the Arecibo Observatory immediately after its collapse on 1 December 2020. Image: Michelle Negron/National Science Basis
Right before the observatory collapsed, the NSF stated that even if repairs had been made to Arecibo, the construction would still present long-phrase steadiness problems.
Fairly than rebuild, the NSF has determined to flip the web page into a multidisciplinary centre to provide as a hub for STEM education and learning and outreach.
The new instruction centre will work to endorse learning and instructing inside STEM and broaden participation. The centre will also find to construct and leverage existing and new collaborations and support elementary STEM schooling exploration.
The NSF explained the scientific community has shown assistance for an expanded academic facility, these types of as the 2020 Decadal Study for Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020).
“Astro2020 recognised that the observatory has, about the course of its nearly 60-calendar year history, turn out to be a extremely regarded section of the community for a lot of of Puerto Rico’s citizens, serving as a supply of satisfaction and neighborhood economic advantage when also supplying obtain to instruction and work for numerous in the local community,” the NSF reported in a statement.
The new centre is predicted to open someday in 2023 and will develop upon the existing training and outreach options at this time in place at the web-site.
The NSF is soliciting proposals to “manage the instruction, STEM investigation and outreach factors of the centre”.
The Arecibo Observatory was the greatest radio telescope on Earth until finally China done the 5-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (Rapidly) in 2016.
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