Following years of debate about how to fund Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, a federally owned research center managed by Cornell, prospects for its financial backing appear better after the National Academy of Sciences called the facility “unique” and “unmatched” in its ability to detect dangerous Near-Earth Objects.

Arecibo itself dates back to 1960, when former Prof. William E. Gordon, engineering, proposed the creation of an observatory to research the ionosphere. The facility now houses the world’s largest radio telescope, with a main reflector dish that measures 1000 feet in diameter and covers 18 acres.

As a result, Arecibo provides unmatched images of Near-Earth Objects and the universe. The United States is currently the only country with a federally funded program to track potentially dangerous NEOs. Arecibo, which is 20 times more sensitive than NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar, hosts about 250 researchers and even more graduate and undergraduate students each year as they study everything from the outer galaxy to dark matter.

“No optical telescope can see Near-Earth Objects like Arecibo,” said Prof. Donald Campbell, astronomy, former site director at Arecibo. “They [the NEOs] look like points of light on other telescopes while Arecibo can actually make images of these objects.”

Additionally, Arecibo contains an education center that attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year, 30 percent of whom are students. The facility boasts a variety of bilingual exhibits that explain basic astronomy, atmospheric science, and the telescope’s operation and function in research.

“The role of the Visitor and Learning Center is unparalleled as a premier science educational center in Puerto Rico,” said Dana Lehr, program director of the National Science Foundation.

Over the last few years, however, researchers and politicians have debated how to finance Arecibo. In November 2006, a Senior Review committee of the National Science Foundation advised that the government slash the observatory’s funding by more than 50 percent over five years. The cut threatened to force Arecibo’s closure.

During her 2008 presidential campaign, then Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) filed a bill in Congress that directed the NSF to fully fund the facility. Though Clinton’s effort was unsuccessful, President Barack Obama’s stimulus package earlier this year promised the observatory $3.1 million in grants.

The National Research Foundation, the operational wing of the National Academy of Sciences that doctored the interim report, is likely to continue to support funding for Arecibo in the full report due this December. The foundation noted that the observatory is essential in fulfilling Congress’ request for NASA to detect 90 percent of large NEOs by 2020. The report, however, deemed this goal “infeasible,” saying that “the administration has not requested and Congress has not appropriated new funds to meet this objective.”

“Arecibo is really the dominant instrument,” Campbell said. “And this report was an important endorsement of the program that we were very happy to see.”

Nonetheless, Campbell is unsure how this support will affect future grants. He said that without the positive report, Arecibo would have struggled to find funding and absorb significant cuts. Still, with no definitive decisions made, the future of Arecibo’s funding remains uncertain.

“They have indicated they are likely to cut funding in 2011,” Campbell said. “So the issue now is what impact — only a slight pun — will this all have.”