The collapse of radio telescope leaves an astronomical legacy
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The A rec ibo Observatory was born in the mid-20th century from a confluence of earth ly and celestial forces: William E. Gordon, the scientist who devised the massive radio telescope, wanted to study the Earth's upper atmosphere. The federal defense agency that funded its construction aspired to dominate the technology race against the Soviet Union.
And so, between 1960 and 1963, inaner a brimming with the idea of s pace exploration and Cold War tensions, a radio telescope of power and size never before seen was built in Arecibo, a coastal town in northern Puerto Rico.
The grand project was matched by i ts equally grand home: a massive natural sinkhole, nestled in the forested limestone hills called mo got es, of the island' s K ar st Country. The location meant less excavation was needed. Its closeness to the equator — Puerto Rico is only about 1,200 miles north of the 0 latitude— offered a clear field of the planets overhead. Throughout t he years, the radio telescope's capabilities were expanded to permit a deeper exploration of the cosmos.
And throughout its life, the radio telescope was a tool for many major achievements: from choosing a landing spot for the Apollo 11 mission to the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system.
The natural basin cupped the telescope's 1,000- foot diameter, grayish-white reflector plate. Above the stationary dish, three towers suspended a 900- ton, rotating platform. It housed receivers, transmitters, and other equipment within a dome that hung like half a golf ball in the air. The massive aluminum bowl captured the radio waves and focused them on the platform; i ts hardware translated the “sounds” of the universe into data and information for the scientists who study the universe's mysteries.
The radio telescope had survived hurricanes and earthquakes. But the National Science Foundation, the observatory's owner since the 1970s, in mid-November abruptly announced it would demolish the telescope. The instrument had become unstable in recent months as cables and wires failed and snapped. The federal agency had deemed repairs risky to people, and that there was no way to ensure long-term structural soundness. Following the announcement, a rallying cry to maintain the beloved A rec ibo institution exploded on the island and around the world.
But before any machines could bring the telescoped own, the platform and the dome plummeted into the reflective dish in the early morning of Dec. 1. Households across Puerto Rico woke up to somber and teary news anchors who confirmed what was treated as a national tragedy. The sinkhole, once a cradle of cosmic revelations, became a grave yard of metal and cement. A cloud of brown dust rose among the verdant mogotes as it crashed, visible from nearby homes. One former observatory scientist who lives nearby said it sounded like an “avalanche” or a “train.”