![]() ![]() Under NAIC management over the past 34 years, the telescope has recorded many scientific discoveries, including the first planets beyond the solar system, the first millisecond and binary pulsars, and lakes of hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan. The center provides access to state-of-the-art observing facilities at Arecibo for scientists in radio astronomy, solar system radar astronomy and atmospheric studies. The 1,000-foot-diameter (305 meters) Arecibo telescope was completed in 1963 at the initiative of Cornell electrical engineering professor William E. NAIC was created by Cornell in 1971 as a national center for radio science to operate and manage the Arecibo Observatory for the NSF. "We are very pleased with the confidence that the NSF has shown in supporting Cornell's proposal to continue its management of NAIC, and we welcome the challenge to develop further the scientific research capabilities at the observatory," said Bob Brown, director of NAIC, who spends 25 percent of his time at Arecibo. The award was approved March 30 by the National Science Board, which establishes NSF policies, following a 15-monthlong competition for management of the observatory with the Universities Space Research Association, created by the National Academy of Science in 1969 and largely funded by NASA. NAIC has managed the observatory for the past 34 years. ![]() The contract, with the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) at Cornell - which runs until Ma- is for approximately $70 million, making the NAIC the second-largest federally funded research center on campus. A Puerto Rican landmark, the huge telescope is famous as the locale for several movies, including the James Bond film "GoldenEye" and the movie version of Carl Sagan's Contact. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has renewed Cornell University's management contract for the operation of Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest and most-sensitive single-dish radio/radar telescope. ![]()
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