Cleansing up the collapsed radio telescope on the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico may price between $30 million and $50 million, in accordance with the Nationwide Science Basis (NSF).
The associated fee estimate, revealed Friday (March 5), is specified by an NSF report required by Congress after the enormous radio telescope’s hanging science platform crashed down via the 1,000-foot (305 meters) dish on Dec. 1. Two supporting cables had snapped on the telescope within the months earlier than the collapse.
The crash got here lower than two weeks after the NSF had determined that the construction was too unstable to threat repairing and started planning for a managed demolition. As a substitute, the company was left to scrub up the wreckage.
As a part of the laws funding NSF via the top of September 2021, Congress requested a report outlining the standing of the company’s investigation into the collapse, the plan to scrub up the positioning and the process for figuring out whether or not the telescope shall be changed. NSF published that report on Friday.
Associated: Arecibo Observatory has more science to do despite radio telescope’s collapse
The largest piece of reports within the seven-page report is an preliminary estimate of the price of cleansing up the radio telescope web site, which NSF at present pegs at between $30 million and $50 million. The company famous that the price shall be cut up between fiscal yr 2021, which started Oct. 1, and financial yr 2022.
The report emphasizes security, as NSF has all through the telescope’s fall. “Guaranteeing security has continued to be NSF’s prime precedence,” officers wrote within the report. “This contains not solely the security of personnel on the positioning, but additionally the security of the setting within the space and the necessity to tackle considerations about historic and cultural preservation.”
The Arecibo Observatory: Puerto Rico’s giant radio telescope in photos
To that intention, NSF reported that it’s in conversations with a bunch of businesses about potential implications of the clean-up course of, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Workplace.
Most in query at this level is what Arecibo Observatory’s future could appear to be. Proper now, the power is targeted on the science it might probably full with out the huge radio telescope, however scientists have additionally expressed curiosity in changing the dish with a brand new, fashionable instrument.
The report provides no perception into whether or not that may come to cross, however does state that NSF is planning a neighborhood workshop, at present concentrating on April, throughout which scientists will take into account what doable analysis capabilities are price detailed consideration.
Electronic mail Meghan Bartels at mbartels@area.com or comply with her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.
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