The Arecibo Radio Telescope’s Massive Platform Has Collapsed

The Arecibo Radio Telescope’s Massive Platform Has Collapsed

3 years ago
Anonymous $RGO3jP_V_c

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-arecibo-radio-telescopes-massive-platform-has-collapsed/

After two cable failures in the span of four months, Puerto Rico's most venerable astronomy facility, the Arecibo radio telescope, has collapsed in an uncontrolled structural failure.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the site, decided in November to proceed with decommissioning the telescope in response to the damage, which engineers deemed too severe to stabilize without risking lives. But the NSF needed time to come up with a plan for how to safely demolish the telescope in a controlled manner.