World’s most powerful radar telescope at Arecibo to be scrapped

ORLANDO, Florida, Nov 19 (UPI) – The iconic 18-acre radar telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico cannot be recovered after being damaged by broken cables and will be demolished, the National Science Foundation said Thursday.

Damage from cable breaks in August and early November left the radar antenna and surrounding structures unsafe and prone to collapse at any time, foundation officials said.

“We’re actually taking steps to preserve their staff and assets to ensure the facility progresses one way or another,” said Ashley Zauderer, program director in the foundation’s Astronomical Sciences Division. .

Arecibo’s ancillary facilities that also perform astronomical observations can be recovered, but the central structure, the large radar telescope, will either fail on its own or be demolished as safely as possible, Zauderer said.

“The decision comes after [the foundation] evaluated several assessments by independent engineering companies which found that the telescope’s structure was in danger of catastrophic failure and that its cables may no longer be able to withstand the loads for which they were designed, “a statement said from the foundation.

The telescope has been the scene of groundbreaking scientific and astronomical discoveries for 57 years. Two scientists using the data from the dish won Nobel Prizes. It was also the scene of popular movies like the 1995s Golden eye and Speciesand 1997 Contact.

The University of Central Florida, which manages the facility, had recently submitted a request to the foundation for $ 10.5 million to begin repairs on the August damage. This work would include at least six massive cables, varying in thickness from 3 inches to 6 inches.

But that job hadn’t started when a second larger cable broke.

“Our team has worked tirelessly … to find ways to stabilize the telescope with minimal risk,” UCF President Alexander Cartwright said in a statement on Thursday.

“While this outcome is not what we had been working towards, and we are disheartened to see such an important scientific resource decommissioned, safety is our top priority,” Cartwright said.

The cables support a six-story structure and a platform suspended above the antenna, which houses the world’s most powerful radio telescope transmitter and other instruments. When functioning properly, the observatory can emit radio waves at asteroids and other space objects, obtaining images and data as the waves bounce off Earth.

Among the life sciences carried out at the facility is tracking near-Earth objects – comets or asteroids that could collide with Earth and destroy large areas.

The telescope “allowed NASA to fully characterize the precise orbits, sizes and shapes” of these objects after they were discovered by a different technology, known as a wide-field optical telescope, the agency said in a statement Thursday. .

“NASA respects the National Science Foundation’s decision to put the safety of those who work, visit and study at the historic observatory above all else,” said NASA.

NASA’s Goldstone Observatory in California, another planetary radar, recently resumed operations after upgrading equipment and can also characterize near-Earth objects.

The observatory has been a tourist attraction and education center for decades on the Caribbean island. The foundation intends to continue funding certain aspects of the facility, including its visitor center.

The Arecibo location has a unique bowl-shaped valley that was considered ideal for building a large dish when scientists at Cornell University searched for a telescope site in the 1950s.

The observatory, foundation and UCF are expected to consider possible future uses for the site, leaders of the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology said in a statement.

“To move forward, we encourage [the foundation] to continue to support the Angel Ramos Foundation Visitors and Science Center as an active center of education and awareness programs in Puerto Rico, and to explore the possibilities of using the site for new exciting science in the future, ”committee chair Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and row rep Frank Lucas, R-Okla., wrote.