![]() ![]() On December 1, as our team was driving up the mountain to the observatory, the platform collapsed. Griffin, a demolition contractor, to review the situation. Hoping for the best – and preparing for the worst – we contacted D.H. So just before Thanksgiving, we recommended that the telescope be disassembled.ĭuring the fourth week of November, the project team was in constant communication, logging the number of wires broken each day and assessing the state of the telescope. All options to save the structure were unlikely to succeed, and wires had begun to break more often due to the higher stress. It was a race against time, since the cables' component wires continued to break, further elevating stresses on the remaining cables. ![]() At this point, Thornton Tomasetti became engineer of record for emergency repairs, construction engineering and final repairs.Ĭollaborating with the contractors, other engineers, the University of Central Florida and the observatory owner, the National Science Foundation, we developed a long list of ideas for increasing load capacity and making the structure safe enough to repair. But at the request of the observatory, we were instead retained by the observatory operator (University of Central Florida) to determine the adequacy of the damaged structure and design the repairs. Initially, one of the contractors seeking to perform emergency repairs asked us to support emergency construction services. But before the job could be awarded, a cable came loose from its socket, putting the replacement program on hold while the project shifted to emergency assessment to understand the effect of the cable loss on the entire structure. In August 2020, replacement of a single cable was planned, and proposals sought for the work. Over the years, cables were inspected, and one (a back stay, which supports one of the three towers) was replaced in 1981. Six of the 18 cables had been added in the 1990s to support a 300-ton increase in instrument load. There is no estimate yet on the cost of decommissioning the telescope, according to Nature magazine.The telescope comprised a spherical reflector that covered an area nearly equivalent to 11 soccer fields, with 18 cables (from towers to instrument platform) suspending an instrument array 150 meters above. The announcement saddened many beyond the scientific world, with the hashtag #WhatAreciboMeansToMe popping up on Twitter along with pictures of people working, visiting and even getting married or celebrating a birthday at the telescope. The telescope boasts a 1,000-foot-wide dish, which was featured in the Jodie Foster film "Contact" and the James Bond movie "GoldenEye." In its 57 years of operation, it endured hurricanes, endless humidity and a recent string of strong earthquakes.įor many years it was the main instrument involved in listening for messages from extraterrestrial civilizations, and its striking looks won it a supporting role in feature films, Science magazine said. The telescope was built in the 1960s with money from the Defense Department amid a push to develop anti-ballistic missile defenses. Ralph Gaume, director of NSF’s astronomy division, said the agency wants to preserve other instruments at the site, as well as the visitor and outreach center, according to Science magazine. View Gallery: Space photos: Stunning images you have to see “We understand how much Arecibo means to this community and to Puerto Rico.” At 2 a.m., she had one precious hour to focus the 305-meter dish on NGC 7469, a distant galaxy. “This decision is not an easy one for NSF to make, but the safety of people is our number one priority,” said Sean Jones, the agency’s assistant director for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. In the early morning of 10 August 2020, Sravani Vaddi, a postdoc astronomer at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, was working from home, but her thoughts were at Arecibo's giant radio telescope. In addition, any attempts at repairs could put workers in potentially life-threatening danger, the NSF said. The foundation said the telescope structure is in danger of a catastrophic failure and its cables may no longer be capable of carrying the loads they were designed to support. Watch Video: Historic Arecibo telescope to be dismantled in Puerto RicoĪ massive radio telescope in Puerto Rico used by scientists worldwide will close, the National Science Foundation announced Thursday.įor 57 years, the telescope at the Arecibo Observatory has served as a world-class resource for radio astronomy, planetary, solar system and geospace research, and the search for extraterrestrial life, according to an NSF statement. ![]()
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