Sky & Telescope - August 2021 - 39

Within days, observatory maintenance crews radiated out
with heavy equipment to clear area roads of debris. Occasionally
a FEMA helicopter landed at the observatory with food
and water, and staff quickly loaded up cars and headed out
along the byways to distribute the supplies to the community.
Locals who lived close to the observatory made daily pilgrimages
to draw the delicious water from a tap by the guard gate,
pumped from a well on site. We kept the pump running with
an emergency diesel generator, and just when fuel threatened
to run out, a tanker truck accompanied by a protective police
escort arrived to save the day.
But the dish disaster has a very different impact than
storms like these do. While the collapse of the telescope did
not cost lives, it cannot be quickly rebuilt, and the careers
and livelihoods of most of the staff and scientists will never
return to normal. Some members of the Arecibo scientifi c
family still can't bring themselves to watch videos of the
collapse, even months later. As Christopher Salter, the head
of Arecibo's radio astronomy group, puts it, " If a relative of
yours were to be run down in a car accident, would you be
able to watch a video recording of the event? "
Nor is the observatory's inspirational role in the community
something easily replaced. The visitor center (which survived)
lured tens of thousands of tourists every year. At the
center, hundreds of teachers from all over the island attended
workshops in space sciences, biology, chemistry, and nanotechnology.
An additional 15,000 students visited the observatory
annually, either for day-long visits or to attend the
Arecibo Observatory Space Academy for an intense 18-week
research program for highly qualifi ed pre-college students in
Puerto Rico. Students made the weekly trek from all over the
island to attend. In 2020 the observatory also initiated a Girls
Educating Girls program, funded though NASA's Puerto Rico
Space Grant Consortium, to increase diversity in STEM fi elds.
Participants in all these programs had an unparalleled
close-up view of the antenna platform through their class
windows. Luisa Zambrano-Marin (University of Granada,
Spain), who is working on her PhD in asteroid studies, recalls
the magical times she experienced with students in the summer
programs. " You could see in their eyes the impact, the
power this telescope had, the meaning and symbolism this
structure had. Scientists have come and gone, so have administrators,
but locals have always been the literal operators. "
Visits to the huge dish changed students' lives. " We had a
fi eld trip to the observatory in 2016, " says young researcher
Marcos Jusino-Maldonado (University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo),
" and I decided right then that I would pursue a career
in astrobiology, astronomy, and planetary science. " Those
opportunities are now gone. " Careers in the space sciences
are sadly underdeveloped in Puerto Rico, " he says. " The observatory
was a beacon of hope - perhaps it was possible to work
in these fi elds in our home island. I believe that without the
observatory, many local prospective space scientists will not
get the motivation and support to reach their potential. "
Arecibo's collapse elicited sadness, frustration and someBEFORE
AND AFTER
Top: This image of the
305-m Arecibo Telescope
shows the dish
unharmed, its instrument
platform suspended
with tables from
three towers, called
Tower 4, 8, and 12. The
visitor center is at Tower
12 (right). The cables
of Tower 4 (left) are the
ones that snapped on
Dec. 1, 2020. Middle:
When the platform fell,
it tore holes in the dish
and expanded a gash
from earlier in 2020.
The series at left shows
(from top to bottom) the
damage as seen from
the center of the dish;
the destroyed instrument
platform and Gregorian
dome, seen from
the walkway circling the
dish; and the dish's underside,
which shelters
its own ecosystem.
sk yandtelescope.org * AUGUST 2021 39
BEFORE: IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY, A FACILITY OF THE NSF; AFTER:
RICARDO ARDUENGO / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; CLOSEUPS: MICHELLE NEGRON / NSF (3)
http://www.skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - August 2021

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