Collapsed Arecibo Telescope Gets A Second Act

When the Arecibo Telescope was damaged first by Hurricane Maya in 2017 and then by an Earthquake in January 2020, it initially soldiered on. But then one of its cables snapped, requiring a replacement from the US, in August of 2020, followed by a second cable snapping a few months later.

Once the second cable came loose, the observatory was evacuated, and a few months later, in December, the telescope collapsed.

A study from the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that it was not possible to repair the damage, and in August 2023 the facility was shut down. Once the shutdown was complete, the NSF began accepting proposals for what to do with the site minus its giant radio telescope.