Arecibo is an astronomical observatory located in Puerto Rico at an altitude of 497 meters above sea level. With its help, the US National Science Foundation and Cornell University conduct various studies. The Arecibo radio telescope is one of the largest in the world, because the diameter of its reflector mirror is 305 meters. The recent hurricane Maria damaged the telescope, shattering the radar antenna and damaging its mirror with debris. Scientists are still assessing the scale of the tragedy, but it is already clear that the restoration of expensive equipment will take a lot of time and money.
The hurricane broke the telescope's 29-meter radar antenna in half, and debris falling from a 150-meter height shattered the main reflector mirror and damaged the secondary mirror. As luck would have it, the rest of the radio telescope was not seriously damaged. The work of "Arecibo" was completely stopped even before the start of the hurricane, but all the preparatory procedures aimed at protecting the expensive structure from adverse elements did not save it. On September 20, the hurricane hit Puerto Rico with all its might. The wind speed was up to 250 kilometers per hour. The island was left without electricity, and the telescope dish collected 64 centimeters of precipitation.
The radio telescope was already suspended this month due to another hurricane, Irma. But that time everything worked out, and on September 9 it started working again. This time "Arecibo" was unlucky, and experts do not undertake to name even an approximate date when it will resume its work. Now we need to fully assess the damage, as well as understand what kind of repair work will need to be carried out so that the observatory can resume space observations. By the way, there is still no electricity on the island, which only complicates the current situation.
Sergey Gray