Arecibo gets $12.3 million NSF grant
The National Science Foundation has awarded the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rica a $12.3 million grant to pay for needed repairs and upgrades following the hurricane damage from 2017.
The money will pay for the following work:
- Repairing one of the suspension cables holding the primary telescope platform, ensuring long-term structural integrity of one of the main structural elements of the telescope.
- Recalibrating the primary reflector, which will restore the observatory’s sensitivity at higher frequencies.
- Aligning the Gregorian Reflector, improving current calibration and pointing.
- Installing a new control system for S band radar, which is part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Replacing the modulator on the 430 MHz transmitter, increasing consistency of power output and data quality.
- Improving the telescope’s pointing controls and data tracking systems.
Most of this looks to be very basic maintenance, which suggests the telescope is still very starved for funds.
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The National Science Foundation has awarded the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rica a $12.3 million grant to pay for needed repairs and upgrades following the hurricane damage from 2017.
The money will pay for the following work:
- Repairing one of the suspension cables holding the primary telescope platform, ensuring long-term structural integrity of one of the main structural elements of the telescope.
- Recalibrating the primary reflector, which will restore the observatory’s sensitivity at higher frequencies.
- Aligning the Gregorian Reflector, improving current calibration and pointing.
- Installing a new control system for S band radar, which is part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Replacing the modulator on the 430 MHz transmitter, increasing consistency of power output and data quality.
- Improving the telescope’s pointing controls and data tracking systems.
Most of this looks to be very basic maintenance, which suggests the telescope is still very starved for funds.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Sad, but the NSF needs the money to study Climate Change ™, not outer space.