arecibo telescope

Latest

  • This aerial view shows the damage at the Arecibo Observatory after one of the main cables holding the receiver broke in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on December 1, 2020. - The radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which once starred in a James Bond film, collapsed Tuesday when its 900-ton receiver platform fell 450 feet (140 meters) and smashed onto the radio dish below. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)

    Puerto Rico commits $8 million to rebuild Arecibo telescope

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    12.31.2020

    Puerto Rico has approved $8 million to help rebuild the Arecibo Observatory telescope, although it will likely need considerably more help.

  • This aerial view shows a hole in the dish panels of the Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on November 19, 2020. - The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on November 19, 2020, it will decommission the radio telescope following two cable breaks in recent months which have brought the structure to near collapse. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)

    Without the Arecibo telescope, our search for intelligent life is hamstrung

    by 
    Andrew Tarantola
    Andrew Tarantola
    11.20.2020

    Structural engineers and repair crews have done all that they can but the end result is as we feared: the Arecibo radio telescope has to come down. The venerable space observatory has been out of commission since August when a cable atop Tower 4, which supports the platform, snapped and gutted a 100-foot long section from the telescope’s reflecting dish. At the time, the University of Florida, which runs the facility on behalf of the National Science Foundation, deployed three different engineering teams to investigate the problem.