- Arecibo Observatory Contributes to the Exploration of Black Holes Started by this Year’s Nobel Prize Winners in Physics19 Nov, 2020
- UCF Delivers Engineering Options for Arecibo Observatory (AO)16 Nov, 2020
- Management Update (October 12, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova13 Oct, 2020
- Summer Student Assists in Development of Newest AO Facility01 Oct, 2020
- STAR Academy: Training the Next Generation of STEM Professionals 29 Sep, 2020
- Management Update (August 11, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova29 Sep, 2020
- Management Update (August 28, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova29 Sep, 2020
- Arecibo STAR Teachers29 Sep, 2020
- Hunting for the Mysterious Origins of Fast Radio Bursts28 Sep, 2020
- Girls Educating Girls 28 Sep, 2020
- Cassini Data Solves Mystery of Arecibo Radar Signals on Titan28 Sep, 2020
- How to Build an Asteroid11 Sep, 2020
- A Holistic Approach to Understanding Asteroids11 Sep, 2020
- Sharing the Connection: Arecibo’s Planetary Radar & NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission to Bennu10 Sep, 2020
- Analyzing Gravitational Fields Around Small Bodies in Support of Future Spacecraft Missions09 Sep, 2020
- Broken Cable Damages Arecibo Observatory11 Aug, 2020
Management Update (COVID-19, Eartquakes, Transmitters)
Byadmin27 March 2020 Press Note

Administration | Management Update (COVID-19, Earthquakes, Transmitters) |
Arecibo Observatory Management Update Regarding COVID-19 Pandemic
The Arecibo Observatory’s priority is the health and safety of the staff and our users. In response to COVID-19 and in order to comply with restrictions implemented by the Government of Puerto Rico via executive order OS-2020-23, the Arecibo observatory will be implementing the following workplace changes:
- All AO science and science support staff will be working remotely beginning on March 16, 2020. We encourage the use of email if need to contact an AO staff member.
- No visitors will be allowed on the facility until further notice. If you planned on visiting the facility in the upcoming weeks, please contact us in order to discuss the details of your travel arrangement.
- Scheduled Science Observations:
- Due to government mandated curfew, observations currently scheduled between 9:00pm-5:00am from March 16, 2020 – March 30,2020 will be halted. Our telescope operations team will be working to reschedule these observations to a later date if possible. Observation PI’s impacted will be contacted by the AO staff.
- Previously scheduled active radar observations will be placed on hold, this includes HF and S Band radar observations.
- Previously scheduled passive observations between 6:00am-8:30pm will continue to take place as normal.
We appreciate your understanding and flexibility as we manage this unprecedented event. We will continue to monitor the situation and maintain the user community informed of any changes to operations. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

As you know Puerto Rico has been impacted with a series of significant earthquakes throughout the first weeks of 2020. All AO staff members are safe and our technical teams have completed preliminary visual analysis of the primary structure and have found no immediate damage.
"All AO staff members are safe and our technical teams have completed preliminary visual analysis of the primary structure and have found no immediate damage/ issues..." - Eng. Francisco Cordova, Director of the Arecibo Observatory

S-Band Transmitter Controller Upgrades We have begun upgrades to the planetary radar system’s S-Band transmitter controller at Arecibo. Continental Electronics Corporation recently completed a site visit and we estimate completion of the upgrades in CY2021 Q3. All of the S-band electronics will be replaced in order to extend the life and reliability of the transmitter and monitoring capabilities of the system. This will allow us to track the performance of the transmitter and klystrons individually and with higher fidelity.
Article written by Dr. Tracy Becker - AO Collaborator / SwRI Research Scientist
Contact: tbecker@swri.edu |
Science Manager |
Keywords: arecibo, observatory, 430, MHZ, transmitter, director, cordova, earthquakes , covid, update, radar, staff, telescope, government, status