The famous Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which has provided priceless service to scientists for more than five decades, 57 years to be exact, and establishing itself in well-known culture, is set for dismantling after incurring irreparable damage in the past months.
This gigantic telescope was completed in the early 60s and instantaneously established itself as a powerful mechanism for astronomers, as well as atmospheric scientists all over the world.
Furthermore, for several decades this giant instrument has boasted a bigger size and distinctive architecture than anything before it, welcoming new possibilities for observing the universe, and eventually, transmitting to it, a function not all similar devices can do.
Innumerable scientists and projects used Arecibo, which, as a resource financially backed by the government, was, according to reports, "at least partially dedicated to public disposals."
Signals coming through this giant device helped inform the public's understanding of stellar objects from a planet like Mercury to distant pulsars.
Some Famous Projects that Used Arecibo
Reports on the soon-to-be-dismantled radio telescope said, The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent notably used Arecibo to transfer a message "at high power toward a nearby" cluster of stars structured in order for its artificial nature world to become unmistakable, at least to any life's form, remotely like its own.
Additionally, the organization scoured years of the device's data, too, for patterns that may specify intelligent life doing the similar thing in reverse.
The crowning moment of this observatory in pop culture, though, is definitely its appearance in "GlodenEye," a 1995 James Bond movie, and the wildly famous "Nintendo 64" game based on it.
Regrettably, the infrastructure of Arecibo has aged, not to mention the cost of replacing some of its parts appears to have been quite great for its keepers to try.
Damaged Parts
Even though Arecibo has survived countless calamities, the battering it has received in the past years appears way too much for some of its cables. Out of its 12 cables, two broke in the past months, causing damage to the dish itself.
Many suspect that the other parts of the radio telescope may also be in poor condition already, and if so, that greatly increases the danger, as well as the cost of repairs.
As a result, the board at the University of Central Florida, which manages the device on behalf of the National Science Foundations, decided that a controlled retiring was the only practical path ahead.
According to Sean Jones from the NSF, the decision was not an easy one to make. He added, they understand "how much Arecibo means to the scientific community," as well as to Puerto Rico.
No Concrete Plan Yet
Although reports about the dismantling have already come out, there is no concrete plan yet, for the facility's detailed dismantlement.
However, people who have knowledge about it said dismantling would need to be done fairly soon to avoid more accidents from further reducing the site's safety.
Arecibo's loss is certainly a grave one, and its capabilities are not simulated exactly by other similar devices in the world. However, it is not the largest or most sensitive observatory out there anymore.
Many successors may have been developed in the 60 years since the operation of Arecibo. China just reportedly took the wraps off the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope early this year, which promises to be a hugely essential facility for astronomers globally.
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