On December 1 collapsed the platform with the instruments for the Arecibo Observatory just before eight o’clock in the morning local time down, where it bore through the telescope’s giant satellite dish more than 130 meters below. Scientists and engineers had long feared that the telescope would come to an end in this way, after several cables supporting the structure had broken off for no apparent reason in recent months. According to the Puerto Rico observatory, no one was injured when the 900-ton platform lost its fight against gravity.
The telescope itself has been destroyed, although the full extent of damage to the surrounding facilities has not yet been analyzed. On aerial photographs can be seen that the platform probably swung towards an adjacent rock face during the crash. Parts of it, including the large dome that housed a complex system of reflectors, have landed near the center of the saucer. from photos taken on the ground, it appears that the tops of the three masts from which the platform was suspended have also been broken off. People in the area said they could hear the sound of one avalanche, train or earthquake when the platform collapsed.
“We can confirm that the platform fell and we have no reports of injuries. We will provide further details as soon as these are confirmed, ”said Robert Margutta of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which manages the telescope.
The world-famous observatory had been in a precarious state since August, when an auxiliary cable from which the instrument platform was suspended suddenly broke off, swept through the dish, causing a thirty-meter-long crack in the reflective panels. The situation became even more dire at the beginning of November one of the main cables from which the platform was suspended, broke off. With that, the telescope was on the verge of collapse. Inspections showed that other cables were also weakened and weathered, and in the past few weeks, engineers saw broken strands on the steel cables and other signs of a risk of collapse.
On November 19, the NSF announced that it had been decided to dispose of the telescope definitively and to look into options for safely dismantling the dangerous construction. That decision came after engineers examined the structure and predicted that the instrument platform would collapse in the near future if it was not repaired.
Given the risk of an imminent collapse, authorities decided it was too dangerous to have the platform or masts climbed by repair teams.
“Because we fear things will collapse, we can’t have anyone up there when that happens,” said Michael Nolan, former director of the observatory and now at the University of Arizona. at the time at National Geographic.
“For someone who was inspired by this observatory as a child to explore the stars, this is terrible and heartbreaking news. I have seen how the observatory has inspired this island to this day, ”said planetologist Edgard Rivera-Valentin of the Lunar and Planetary Institute at the time. Yesterday tweeted Rivera-Valentin said he and his colleagues were “deeply sad, in mourning and in tears” when they learned of the observatory’s collapse.
The NSF’s decision to dispose of the telescope did not stop scientists and Puerto Ricans from support the observatory. The satellite dish is of great scientific and cultural value to them. For decades, the observatory has been a proud source of inspiration for the island and has played an important role in natural disasters for the local community. The collapsed telescope has now turned into a twisted and dangerous mess that needs to be cleaned up, perhaps leaving room for a new telescope.
Anne Virkki, head of the observatory’s planetary radar team, writes in an email, “We have yet to start campaigning for a rebuild today.”
This article was originally published in English on NationalGeographic.com
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