Radio Sciences Coalition
Coalition for a New Arecibo Observatory.
Position Paper March 31, 2021.
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Coalition for a New Arecibo Observatory
Position Paper
This document is a response by a coalition of scientists and academics
historically connected with the Arecibo Observatory and with the local scientific community,
to the catastrophic and dramatic collapse of the main instrument of the Arecibo Observatory in
Puerto Rico on December 1, 2020. We raise our collective voice to advocate for a scientific
future that more solidly engages with the Puerto Rican community, the National Science
Foundation, Congress, and the relevant scientific societies to ensure that the ensued
gap is properly addressed. We seek to both influence and become stakeholders in
the path forward that aims at obtaining a replacement facility.
I. Our coalition
We are a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral coalition of scientists, professors,
graduate students, and members of international scientific societies. We are
former Arecibo Observatory staff members, users of its facilities, and students
who were trained at the Observatory and with deep ties to Puerto Rico - most but not all are Puerto Ricans.
II. The importance of Arecibo Observatory for Puerto Rico
The Arecibo Observatory started as a Department of Defense (ARPA, now DARPA, the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency) project during the Cold War, and was quickly recognized to have
broad radio astronomical, planetary, and ionospheric scientific applicability. Beginning
with the first observations in 1963, the Observatory was used for open civilian research,
and in 1969 management was transferred from DoD to NSF. The Observatory has delivered on
its promise, enabling Nobel-prize winning research, and accomplishing major discoveries
in all three above mentioned disciplines. For the nation, the Arecibo Observatory is a
vital asset for planetary defense against the eventuality of a collision with a near-Earth
asteroid or other object (NEO). There is no replacement either existing or planned for the
capabilities that Arecibo gave the world for the mapping and forecasting of orbits of NEOs.
In this context, Arecibo's role was and would be of critical interest to the US and the World.
The Arecibo Observatory has been the only formal national science center with international
relevance in Puerto Rico. Throughout its existence, the Observatory has been a unique incubator
for many graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. A robust summer student program has
recruited generations of undergraduates into research careers. In 1997, a strong educational program
was instituted, including a visitor center and museum that attracted about 100,000 visitors each year.
The creation of functional links to minority-serving institutions in both the US and Puerto Rico
widened the educational reach of the Observatory, including within local academic institutions
that previously had only casual and sporadic interaction with the Observatory's scientific and
educational capabilities. Thus, the Observatory fulfilled not just a critical national science
mission but a strategic educational enhancing role that served as the
springboard for the launching of many scientific careers, including many members in this coalition.
Its multi-million-dollar economic impact
1 to the island economy has long been recognized, especially
in terms of anchoring the regional economy of the municipality of Arecibo and surrounding areas,
stabilizing an otherwise steadily declining economic profile.
III. Our position going forward
Choosing a replacement option for the legacy Arecibo 305 m telescope or deciding to build
any other new instrument or facility is decidedly a complex scientific, technical and social
task. We recognize that the replacement strategy requires in-depth analysis, and that
such strategy has multiple dimensions such as cost and funding model, projected lifetime,
mission requirements and scientific priorities, design innovation, management and
maintenance systems, and socioeconomic factors. Our position is that the process
of defining success should unambiguously partner with the community of international
and local (i.e., PR/USVI) stakeholders, the latter being a critical partner.
Our coalition sees the design and construction of a new national radio science facility
and any other new instruments associated with the Arecibo Observatory as a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for science for Puerto Rico. The aim should be to surpass the capabilities
of the legacy Arecibo telescope, thus recovering and enhancing the national scientific
and technological infrastructure. This will seed a new generation of both scientists
and engineers with expertise in various fields of radio science, particularly in
minority communities. This innovation would benefit the island and the region in
areas extending from the academic community to industrial and economic growth.
Therefore, the design and selection process of any new facility at (or associated with)
the Arecibo Observatory should emphasize the following foundational characteristics:
- Lead to a scientifically and technically modern instrument/facility, reflecting the
current state-of-the-art including a strong computational capability.
- Serve the astronomical, planetary radar, and atmospheric and space sciences meaningfully
by inviting and soliciting expert input from the relevant scientific societies as part of
the analysis of alternatives prior to final selection.
- Preserve and enhance the educational mission that was developed at the Arecibo Observatory
with outreach to both internal and external interests in Puerto Rico.
- Include social sciences with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the new facility
in its mission to communicate and engage society. This seeks to take advantage of studies
of community impacts as well as the social relationships involved in scientific discovery and management.
- Preserve the civilian management of the Arecibo Observatory and guarantee that
work conducted at the facility continues to be focused on non-military research.
- Be endowed with sufficient internal scientific and support staff capable of monitoring and
maintaining the health of the instrumentation, and of facilitating future updates.
- Comprise a scientific staff primarily oriented toward supporting guest investigations
that stress community collaboration.
- Include Puerto Rican scientists, engineers, educators, and other relevant experts
-- they should be represented in the planning and decisional process.
- Seek local support and government commitments that enhance the participation of the
local scientific user community. If the government of Puerto Rico provides any financial
or in-kind support to a new facility, the science community in Puerto Rico should obtain
guaranteed time to use the new telescope or instrument.
- Siting of new and replacement facilities need not necessarily be at Arecibo proper.
Other localities in Puerto Rico may be more advantageous and synergistic for establishing
particular capabilities. A network or distributed approach may prove optimal.
- Maintain strong links with local research institutions.
- Have a financial sustainment plan to maintain the facility as a relevant one in
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the out years.
- Ensure equal and free access to observing time based solely on the merit of the proposed science2.
References
-
https://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/env_impact_reviews/arecibo/eis/FEIS.pdf
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https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2017/open-skies-policies-in-astronomy
We, the undersigned scientists, professors and graduate students, have agreed on the above
statement on March 31, 2021.
Name, Position,Institution
- Daniel R. Altschuler, PhD, Past Director of Arecibo Observatory,
Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras Campus
- José L. Alonso, PhD, Past Director of Fundación Ángel Ramos Visitor
Center at AO, Full Professor, Director of the Department of
Mathematics-Physics, University of Puerto Rico - Cayey Campus
- Carmen A. Pantoja, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Río Piedras Campus
- Mayra Lebrón, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Río Piedras Campus
- Jonathan Friedman, PhD, PRPI Director and Associate Professor,
Ana G. Méndez University
- Abel Méndez, Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Arecibo Campus
- Ernesto P. Esteban, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Humacao Campus
- Ramón López Alemán, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Río Piedras Campus
- Henri A. Radovan, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Mayagüez Campus
- Brett Isham, PhD, Full Professor, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico
- Neftali Sotero Rivera Castillo, Associate Professor,
University of Puerto Rico - Arecibo Campus
- Héctor J Jiménez, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Mayagüez Campus
- Abraham Ruiz Garcia, PhD, Full Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Humacao Campus
- Desireé Cotto-Figueroa, PhD, Associate Professor,
University of Puerto Rico - Humacao Campus
- Héctor Delgado Díaz, Graduate student, University of Washington
- Amanda M. Alvarado Torres, Graduate Student, University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras Campus
- Lizxandra Flores-Rivera, Graduate student, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany
- Alberto Rosado Marin, Graduate student, Ohio University
- Andy López-Oquendo, Graduate student, Northern Arizona University
- Marialis Rosario Franco, Graduate student, Grote Reber Doctoral Fellow, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Mariangelly Diaz Rodriguez, Graduate student, Florida State University
- Romy Rodríguez Martínez, Graduate student, The Ohio State University
- Daniel Meléndez, PhD, Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Meteorologist, American Meteorological Society
- Héctor G. Arce Nazario, PhD, Full Professor, Yale University
- Marcel Agüeros, PhD, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University
- Karín Menéndez-Delmestre, PhD, Associate Professor, Observatório do Valongo,
Astronomy Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)
- Luca Olmi, PhD, Research Staff, Instituto Nazionale Di Astrofisica- Italy
- Nancy Irisarri Méndez, Software Engineer and Data Analyst, Philips
- Carlos A. Vargas Alvarez, PhD, Adjunct professor, Virginia Western
Community College
- Saida Caballero, PhD, Assistant Professor, Florida Institute of Technology
- Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín, PhD, Space and Planetary Sciences
- Victor Migenes, PhD, Full Professor/Chairman of the Physics Department, Texas Southern University
Coalition for a New Arecibo Observatory.
Position Paper March 31, 2021.