Arecibo Observatory - Funding Issues

Funding Issues

A report by the division of Astronomical Sciences of the National Science Foundation, made public on 2006-11-03, recommended substantially decreased astronomy funding for Arecibo Observatory, ramping down from $10.5 million in 2007 to $4.0 million in 2011. If other sources of money cannot be obtained, the observatory would close. The report also advised that 80 percent of the observation time be allocated to the surveys already in progress, reducing the time available for other scientific work. NASA gradually eliminated its share of the planetary radar funding at Arecibo from 2001 thorough 2006.

Academics and researchers responded by organizing to protect and advocate for the observatory. They established the Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership (ASAP), which was meant to advance the scientific excellence of Arecibo Observatory research and to publicize its accomplishments in astronomy, aeronomy and planetary radar. ASAP's goals include mobilizing the existing broad base of support for Arecibo science within the fields it serves directly, the broad scientific community; provide a forum for the Arecibo research community and enhance communication within it; promote the potential of Arecibo for groundbreaking science; suggest the paths that will maximize it into the foreseeable future; showcase the broad impact and far-reaching implications of the science currently carried out with this unique instrument.

Contributions by the government of Puerto Rico may be one way to help fill the funding gap, but are controversial and uncertain. At town hall meetings about the potential closure, Puerto Rican Senate President Kenneth McClintock announced an initial local appropriation of $3.0 million during fiscal year 2008 to fund a major maintenance project to restore the three pillars that hold up the antenna platform to their original condition, pending inclusion in the next bond issue. The bond authorization, with the $3.0 million appropriation, was approved by the Senate of Puerto Rico on November 14, 2007, on the first day of a special session called by Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. The Puerto Rico House of Representatives repeated this action on June 30, 2008. The Governor of Puerto Rico signed the measure into law in August 2008. These funds were made available in the second half of 2009.

José Enrique Serrano, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, asked the National Science Foundation to keep Arecibo in operation in a letter published on September 19, 2007.

Language similar to that in the letter of September 19th was included in the FY-2008 omnibus spending bill. In October 2007, Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner (now the Governor), Luis Fortuño, along with Dana Rohrabacher, filed legislation to assure the continued operation of the observatory. A similar bill was filed in the U.S. Senate in April 2008 by the junior Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton.

Since the Arecibo observatory is owned by the Government of the United States, direct donations by private or corporate donors cannot be made. However, as a non-profit charitable institution, Cornell University (and in the future SRI International) will accept contributions on behalf of the Arecibo Observatory.

In September 2007, in an open letter to researchers, the NSF clarified the status of the budget for NAIC, stating that the present plan could hit the targeted budgetary revision. No mention of private funding was made. However, it need be noted that the NSF is undertaking studies to mothball or demolish the observatory to return it to its natural setting in the event that its budget target is not reached.

In November 2007, The Planetary Society urged the U.S. Congress to prevent the Arecibo Observatory from closing because of insufficient funding since its radar contributes greatly to to the accuracy of predictions of asteroid impacts on the Earth. The Planetary Society believes that continued operation of the observatory will reduce the cost of mitigation (that is, deflection of a near-Earth asteroid on collision to Earth), should that be necessary.

Also in November of that year The New York Times described the consequences of the budget cuts at the site. In July 2008, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that the funding crisis, due to federal budget cuts, was still very much alive.

The SETI@home program is using the telescope as a primary source for the research. The program is urging people to send a letter to their political representatives, in support of full federal funding of the observatory.

The NAIC received $3.1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and this was used for basic maintenance and for a second, much smaller, antenna to be used for very long baseline interferometry and for student training. This allotment was an increase of around 30 percent over the FY-2009 budget. However, the FY-2010 funding request by NSF was cut by $1.2 million (−12.5 percent) over the FY-2009 budget) in light of their continued plans to reduce funding.

The 2011 NSF budget was reduced by a further $1.6 million, −15 percent compared to 2010, with a further $1.0 million reduction projected by FY-2014. In addition, "NSF will decertify NAIC as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) upon award of the next cooperative agreement for its management and operation."

Beginning in FY-2010, NASA began contributing $2.0 million per year for planetary science, particularly the study of near-Earth objects, at Arecibo. NASA is implementing this funding through its Near Earth Object Observations program.

In 2010, the National Science Foundation issued a call for proposals for the management of NAIC beginning in FY-2012. On May 12, 2011, The National Science Foundation informed Cornell University that it would no longer be the operator of the NAIC, and thus of the Arecibo Observatory, as of October 1, 2011.

The new operator is SRI International, along with two other managing partners, Universities Space Research Association and Universidad Metropolitana, with a number of other collaborators.