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A huge radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, one of the largest in the world, collapsed today after suffering severe damage since August, authorities said, after 57 years of astronomical discoveries.
The telescope’s deteriorating 900-ton instrument platform, suspended by cables 137 meters (450 feet) above a bowl-shaped reflector dish that is 305 meters wide (1,000 feet), fell today, the National Science Foundation said. USA (NSF). No injuries were reported, he added.
The telescope, which received radio waves from space, had been used by scientists around the world to search for possible signatures of extraterrestrial life, study distant planets, and find potentially dangerous asteroids.
It also gained fame after pivotal scenes from the 1995 James Bond film Golden Eye, starring Pierce Brosnan, were shot there.
Two cables supporting the reflector plate had snapped since August, causing damage and forcing officials to shut down the observatory as engineering firms hired by the University of Central Florida, which runs the observatory, studied ways to repair the damage.
In November, engineering reviews led NSF and the university to conclude that efforts to repair the structure would be too dangerous and that it would have to be demolished.
The NSF said initial findings indicated that the upper section of the telescope’s three support towers broke and that when the instrument platform fell, the telescope support cables also collapsed.
The observatory also includes other scientific assets, such as a 12-meter (40-foot) telescope used for radio astronomy research and a facility used to study Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The observatory’s learning center, located next to the telescope, suffered significant damage from falling cables, the NSF said.
“We are saddened by this situation, but grateful that no one was injured,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a statement.
“Our focus now is on assessing the damage, finding ways to restore operations in other parts of the observatory, and working to continue supporting the scientific community and the people of Puerto Rico.”
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