Today the National Science Foundation announced that, sadly, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico would soon be decommissioned. This news comes after the telescope suffered damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and two snapped auxiliary cables.
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The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was still undergoing repairs from damage by Hurricane Maria three years ago when an auxiliary cable broke and took the telescope offline this week.
The observatory is managed by the University of Central Florida in partnership with Universidad Ana G. Méndez and Yang Enterprises Inc. NASA also relies on the telescope to support the Planetary Radar Project.
The broken cable slashed through the 1,000-foot-wide reflector dish this week, creating 100 feet of damage throughout the telescope.
