It's the End for Iconic 1000-Foot-Wide Telescope at Arecibo Observatory After Second Cable Break - SciTechDaily

For 57 years the Arecibo Observatory has served as a world-class resource for radio astronomy and planetary, solar system and geospace research.

UCF remains committed to the scientific mission in Arecibo and to the local community.

The National Science Foundation expects it will be several weeks before disassembly of the telescope can begin.

National Science Foundation announced it ill begin planning the controlled decommissioning of the 1,000-foot-wide telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

The observatory, which UCF manages for NSF under a cooperative agreement, has for 57 years served as a world-class resource for radio astronomy and planetary, solar system and geospace research.

But a main cable break on November 6 caused the structural integrity of the telescope to come into question.

Three engineering firms, which had been previously hired to address an auxiliary cable break at the facility in August, assessed the telescope and submitted their reports to NSF.

The Arecibo Observatory was constructed from 1960 to 1963 and was the brainchild of Cornell University Physicist William Edwin Gordon.

The location was ideal for the telescope and would lead to decades of significant contributions in the areas of atmospheric sciences, planetary sciences, radio astronomy and radar astronomy.

The observatory continued to help scientists with observations that they turned into published journal articles and which expanded our knowledge of space and Earth’s place in the solar system.

The work was ongoing when the first auxiliary cable broke in August 2020.

The cable slipped from its socket in one of the towers, leaving a 100-foot gash in the dish below.

Arecibo was awaiting a team of engineers who were expected to begin temporary emergency repairs related to the August incident when the main cable broke on Friday, November 6.

Unlike the auxiliary cable that failed, this main cable did not slip out of its socket.

The second broken cable was unexpected.

Engineering assessments following the auxiliary cable failure indicated that the structure was stable, and the planning process to restore the telescope to operation was underway.

November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020