Gut-wrenching footage documents Arecibo telescope’s collapse
Found on Nature on Sunday, 13 December 2020
The iconic radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has collapsed, leaving astronomers and the Puerto Rican scientific community to mourn its demise.
Drone footage of the collapse, released by the NSF two days later, shows cables snapping at the top of one of the three towers from which the instrument platform was suspended. The platform plummets downward and crashes into the side of the dish. The tops of all three towers also snap off.
Sad to see that such a great piece of technology couldn't be saved.