
Arecibo Telescope Wins Reprieve from U.S. Government - JJLongusa
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/arecibo-telescope-wins-reprieve-from-u-s-government/
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Viper007Bond
It'll always hold a special place in my heart for being in the James Bond
movie Goldeneye.

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acidburnNSA
Me too, and that was my first Bond movie. My dad said I'd like it. I was
skeptical but boy oh boy was he right.

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kbenson
Goldeneye was a good bond film, but perhaps that's heavily influenced by the
age you saw it at. I suspect I would still like goldeneye today, but perhaps
not for the same reasons or as the same type of films I originally did.

If nothing else it did generate what I think is one of the seminal video games
of the 90s. Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 was amazing in both its single player
campaign and its multiplayer influence.

No doubt some of my affection for the film is this up in this, so I wonder how
well others that didn't have this additional influence view it.

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rmason
This is such great news. I've known locals who have spent time down there.
Been reading stories about the hams working there in QST it seems my whole
life. Big bang for the buck on science done down there. Always wanted to visit
but the sole time I was in Puerto Rico just ran out of time.

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pmoriarty
_" The decision comes as part of the NSF’s years-long effort to offload
several of its astronomical research facilities to free up millions of dollars
each year for future projects, such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
that is under construction in Chile."_

Has the NSF's own budget been cut, so that it's forced to do this, or is this
more of just a matter of shifting priorities?

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ISL
It is largely priorities. Even a decade ago, Arecibo was struggling for its
life against newer experiments. Nobody doubts the utility of Arecibo, it is
largely a question of finite resources and prioritization.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Arecibo and many other experiments, so I'm
secretly joyful each time it is saved, but it is important that promising
young experiments not be starved by established ones without cause.

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mturmon
Yes. For more on this context, see:

[http://www.nature.com/news/us-struggles-to-offload-
telescope...](http://www.nature.com/news/us-struggles-to-offload-
telescopes-1.14599)

In order to bring new telescopes like LSST online, something has to be cut.
NSF has tried to offload these older telescopes to consortia of universities
who can still use them.

