Arecibo has disappeared: the great telescope, which served the scientific community for 57 years, has literally imploded
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himArecibo disappeared: the great telescope, which served the scientific community for 57 years, literally imploded. A human and cultural disaster that will inevitably have consequences for the future.
Arecibo is actually the name of a city in Puerto Rico where a huge radio telescope was built 57 years ago that operated through Cornell University, under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF, US government agency).
We are talking about a colossus consisting of a radio dish of 305 meters in diameter with an instrumental platform of 900 tons suspended at 140 meters, connected by cables to three towers. What time it no longer exists.
The disaster, however, was not exactly a bolt from the blue. In fact, Puerto Rico had been hit by a terrible earthquake last January and the telescope had also suffered considerable damage to the supporting structure.
On August 10, 2020, in particular, an auxiliary cable had snapped, slipping from its socket in one of the towers and leaving a 30-meter gash in the plate below. The break of a second cable came shortly after, unexpected.
So on November 19, the NSF decided to shut down the observatory and some forecasts indicated just a week or two of remaining life. Above all, the breaking of the two cables had put the platform on the verge of collapse. Collapse which unfortunately happened around 8 am (local time) on December 1st.
Before and after photos from Arecibo Observatory https://t.co/5S6h5IMvnX
— Robinson Observatory (@UCFObservatory) December 1, 2020
“I have a stomach ache - says Ramon Lugo, director of the Florida Space Institute who managed the telescope for the NSF, holding back tears - Many people have really worked hard to try to restore this facility. It is disappointing that we have not been successful. It is really a tough morning ”.
Unfortunately details of how the structure fell are unknown (possibly a failure of one of the remaining cables connecting the platform to one of the three support towers), but luckily no one was close to the dish when the platform fell, so there are no injuries.
The telescope at the Arecibo Observatory has collapsed. Thankfully, there were no injuries. This is indeed a sad day for the people of Puerto Rico and scientists/researchers around the world: a loss that will be keenly felt!
— Florida Space Institute (FSI) (@FSI_Orlando) December 1, 2020
“The Arecibo Observatory telescope collapsed. Fortunately, there were no injuries. This is really a sad day for the people of Puerto Rico and for scientists / researchers around the world: a loss that will be deeply felt! " tweets the NSF.
And as with all disasters of this magnitude, now one wonders what will happen. Above all, there is enormous concern for the future of the observatory's 130 staff members, highly qualified personnel who are now completely on their own emptied of role.
But the engineers have already begun inspecting the three support towers in order to reconstruct how it all collapsed. Perhaps this could help to understand if there is a way to give this back to the world in the future immense cultural heritage.
Sources of reference: Sciencemag / NFS / Twitter / Robison Observatory / Twitter
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