It has been two months since Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico on September 20, downing power lines, damaging buildings, and knocking out water supplies across the island. During the devastation, a small group of workers found refuge within the Cold-War-era bunkers built beneath the world’s largest operational radio telescope, Arecibo Observatory. Though Maria’s winds tore down the observatory’s iconic 95-foot (29 meter) ‘line feed’ antenna, puncturing patches of the dish’s aluminum skin, Arecibo made it through the storm relatively unscathed.The 54-year-old observatory has weathered a lot of storms over the years — ranging from tropical to financial. And last week, it made it through yet another as The National Science Foundation (NSF) signed a Record of Decision for Arecibo Observatory, which outlines a plan to fund the facility over the next half decade, albeit at a much-reduced rate.Currently, the NSF funds about two-thirds of Arecibo’s annual operating budget of $12 million. However, with this new decision, the NSF’s annual contribution will be reduced from $8.2 million to just $2 million over the next five years. Though it is still unclear where the remaining funding will come from, the plan is to rely on unspecified partner institutions to foot the rest of the bill.Measuring 1,000 feet (305 m) across, Arecibo held the record for the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope until China recently began operating the 500-meter FAST radio telescope. Built into the limestone hills of western Puerto Rico, Arecibo is a secluded gem for the scientific community. Over the course of the last half-century, Arecibo has used radio waves to study things ranging from Earth’s atmosphere to deep-space objects.