After 57 years of scanning deep-space skies for asteroids, pulsars and mysterious bursts of distant radio waves, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is set to be decommissioned and demolished. The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the fate of the radio telescope following two cable breaks in recent months that have brought the structure to near collapse.

The observatory had been battered by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and an earthquake and aftershocks in December 2019, all of which likely contributed to the recent cable failures. This August an auxiliary cable used to support the floating platform above the telescope slipped out of its socket and fell, punching a hole in the observatory’s giant dish. At the time, the University of Central Florida, which manages the facility, halted telescope operations and initiated an investigation.

As engineers waited for a replacement, a second main suspension cable snapped on November 6 and caused additional damage to the structure and to nearby cables. Multiple assessments by NSF and independent engineering companies determined the telescope structure to be in danger of a catastrophic failure since the cables may no longer be capable of carrying the loads they were designed to support. Planning for controlled decommissioning of the 900-ton platform and the giant dish is now underway.

NSF hopes to continue work at the Arecibo Observatory LIDAR facility eventually, as well as the visitor center. There is also an offsite facility on the island of Culebra, which collects data on clouds and rainfall. Analyses and cataloging of data collected by the Arecibo telescope will also continue for the foreseeable future.

A second cable break In November 2020 tore through the Arecibo telescope’s dish panels and brought the suspended instrument platform to the verge of collapse. Source: University of Central Florida