After fifty-seven years of cutting-edge research, the iconic Arecibo radio telescope has reached the end of the road.
Due to two cable failures in the past three months, outside engineering firms have concluded the telescope cannot be repaired — at least, not without risking the total collapse of the 900-ton receiving platform onto the dish below, the lives of workers, and further damage to existing buildings onsite.
As a result, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the facility, has decided to decommission Arecibo, the organization announced today.
Engineers are now “working against the clock” to develop a plan for a controlled decommissioning, said Ralph Gaume, the NSF’s astronomy division director, in a media briefing this morning. That could come in the form of a demolition using explosives, according to a report from one of the three engineering firms that have been working to try to save the facility ...
