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The Arecibo Observatory radio telescope, which you may recognize from James Bond’s GoldenEye movie, collapsed Tuesday morning due to mechanical failure. The telescope was already scheduled to be demolished because, that’s the beauty, of fears that it would collapse.
The Puerto Rico-based telescope collapsed this morning when its 900-ton equipment platform, suspended 500 feet above the dish, fell after its support cables failed. There have been no reported injuries, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The Arecibo Observatory was already scheduled to close last month for fear that it might collapse. One of the cables holding the platform had failed earlier and the NSF, which oversees the telescope, had planned to retire the radio telescope after the accident.
The instrument platform of the 305m telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico fell overnight. No injuries were reported. NSF is working with stakeholders to assess the situation. Our top priority is to maintain security. NSF will release further details when confirmed. pic.twitter.com/Xjbb9hPUgD
– National Science Foundation (@NSF) December 1, 2020
The largest single dish radio telescope in the world (Until the FAST telescope built in 2016) was built in 1960 and was used for radio astronomy research, atmospheric science and extraterrestrial intelligence research.
The observatory and telescope have been used as backgrounds in many successful films, most notably the James Bond film GoldenEye. But the Observatory also made other appearances, such as in the films Species, Contact and The X-Files TV episode “Little Green Men”.
Originally the plans were to keep the observatory’s visitor center operational, but plans for the observatory are now in flux after the collapse.
Matt TM Kim is a reporter for IGN.
(Header photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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