Preliminary investigation suggests possible cause of the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory telescope

An ongoing investigation into the collapse of the iconic radio telescope in December Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico provides early evidence that a production issue contributed to the failure.

The telescope’s massive science platform, which weighed 900 tons, was suspended with three dozen cables above the large radio dish. But in August 2020, one of them cables slipped out of his socket; before the failure could be repaired, a second cable broke straight in November. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the site, determined the platform was too unstable to recover safely and decided to deprive the instrument. Before that could happen, the telescope collapsed on its own on December 1st.

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