Drone Footage Shows Collapse of Observatory
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- The famed Arecibo Observatory, featured in the films Contact and Goldeneye, gave way earlier this week after its support cables snapped.
- The National Science Foundation, which ran the Puerto Rico-based radio observatory, released dramatic drone footage of the collapse.
- The telescope operated for almost 60 years, scanning the skies for asteroids and alien signals and contributing to our understanding of the universe.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released tragic drone footage of the collapse of the famed Arecibo Observatory, which fell this week after 57 years of service.
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The observatory—made famous by films like Contact and the James Bond flick Goldeneye—probed the distant reaches of the universe for signs of extraterrestrial life, scanned the skies for fast radio bursts, and tracked marauding asteroids zipping through our solar system. It’s a devastating loss for research in Puerto Rico, the scientific community, and even humanity as a whole.
The footage, which you can watch above, shows the instant when the telescope’s support cables snapped, sending the 900-ton instrument platform tumbling into the 1,000-foot-wide dish below. The tops of the three towers that supported the platform also gave way, pushing a flood of debris down across the dish and several adjacent facilities. Fortunately, no one was injured.
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The observatory, nestled in the verdant hills of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was managed jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the University of Central Florida. It opened in 1963 and has made significant contributions in the years since. In addition to the 1,000-foot dish, the observatory is home to a 12-foot radio telescope, a LIDAR facility, and an educational center.
“We knew this was a possibility, but it is still heartbreaking to see,” Elizabeth Klonoff, UCF’s vice president for research, said in a December 1 statement. “Safety of personnel is our number one priority. We already have engineers on site to help assess the damage and determine the stability and safety of the remaining structure. We will continue to work with the NSF and other stakeholders to find ways to support the science mission at Arecibo.”
The first sign of trouble came in August, when an auxiliary cable—one of 18 that held the instrument platform in place—snapped and tore through the dish 500 feet below, resulting in significant damage. An assessment at the time revealed that as long as the remaining cables were intact, the dish could be fixed. The Arecibo staff promptly ordered a replacement cable and began rehabbing the facility.
But then, on November 19, NSF announced that yet another cable had ruptured weeks earlier and