Dangers forcing telescope in Puerto Rico to be retired

The Arecibo Observatory’s telescope in PuertoRico is going to be decommissioned.

The radio telescope’s structure is in danger of “catastrophic failure,” and the observatory cannot be repaired without risk to construction workers and the facility’s staff. So the 1,000foot-wide telescope will be disassembled.

“(The National Science Foundation) prioritizes the safety of workers, Arecibo Observatory’s staff and visitors, which makes this decision necessary, althoughunfortunate,” foundation director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a news release.

“For nearly six decades, theAreciboObservatoryhas served as a beacon for breakthrough science and what a partnership with a community can look like. While this is a profound change, we will be looking forways toassist the scientific community and maintain that strong relationship with the people of Puerto Rico.”

The Arecibo Observatory was completed in 1963 and has been stewarded by the foundation since the 1970s. It contributed to discovering the first exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system), better understanding the ionosphere (part of Earth’s upper atmosphere) and characterizing the properties and orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids, among other things.

Engineers had been examining the telescope since Aug. 10, when one of the support cables became detached and left a 100-foot gash in the dish below. They were preparing to stabilize the structure— arranging for the delivery of two replacement auxiliary cables and two temporary cables — when amain cable broke on the same towerNov. 6. Engineers concluded that the remaining cableswereweaker than originally projected.

The decommissioning plan focuses only on the telescope and will retain remaining infrastructure.

After the telescope is disassembled, the foundation plans to restore operations at the observatory’s LIDAR facility, which uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure variable distances to the Earth. This is a useful tool for researching the Earth’s upper atmosphere and nearby outer space.

The foundation would also reopen the visitors center and the offsite Culebra facility, which analyzes cloud cover and precipitation data. SomeArecibo operations involving the analysis and cataloging of archived data collected by the telescope would continue, according to the news release.

“For decades, the facility has been an important emblem of Puerto Rico’s commitment to international science research and education,” NASA said in a statement, “and the discoveries enabled by Arecibo’s 305m radio telescope will continue to inspire the next generation of explorers.”