**New Report Indicates Electromagnetic Radiation May Have Played a Role in Arecibo Observatory’s Collapse**

A fresh report suggests that intense electromagnetic radiation from the Arecibo Observatory’s giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico might have hastened structural deterioration, ultimately resulting in its disastrous collapse in 2020.

The Arecibo Observatory, with its 1,000-foot-wide dish situated in a verdant valley, served as the foremost radio transmitter globally for over five decades. It was instrumental in propelling advancements in astronomy by examining stars, exoplanets, and asteroids, as well as searching for potential signals from extraterrestrial life. The telescope also gained cultural recognition through its roles in the sci-fi film *Contact* and the James Bond film *GoldenEye*.

Tragedy struck on December 1, 2020, when a 900-ton platform and a four-story dome of secondary reflectors suspended above the dish plummeted over 400 feet, crashing into the main structure. Thankfully, there were no injuries; however, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the observatory’s owner, opted not to rebuild the notable telescope, leaving astronomers who depended on it for their research heartbroken.

Earlier investigations linked the collapse to “zinc creep,” which describes how zinc can gradually deform under tension. The zinc-loaded sockets anchoring the cables supporting the platform weakened over time, resulting in several cables slipping out. Nevertheless, the Arecibo disaster was unique, representing the first recorded instance of long-term zinc failure, where the material deformed under loads significantly below its anticipated strength.

“The intriguing question was, ‘Why was there excessive zinc creep under such minimal loading?’ This kind of failure had never been documented in over a century of successful usage of zinc spelter sockets,” commented Roger L. McCarthy, chair of the committee from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assigned to investigate the collapse.

A newly issued 98-page report from the National Academies largely corroborates earlier forensic studies, including a 2021 NASA analysis, detailing the sequence of events leading up to the collapse. However, the new report criticizes prior investigations for neglecting various warning signs and failure patterns visible at the location before the incident. The committee asserts that structural engineers overlooked crucial indicators.

McCarthy, founder of McCarthy Engineering, referred to the incident as “one of the most publicized and perplexing failures of modern times.”

The report correlates the damage to Hurricane Maria in 2017 when inspectors first noted “large and progressive” cable pull-outs. These observations should have prompted urgent repairs, the committee asserted, but the inspectors misjudged the speed at which the damage would escalate. In August 2020, an auxiliary cable broke, creating a 100-foot gash in the dish and harming the platform. The situation further deteriorated when a main cable snapped in November, mere weeks before the entire structure collapsed. On November 19, 2020, the NSF announced the facility’s closure due to safety concerns.

Initially constructed in the 1960s by the Defense Department for anti-ballistic missile defense development, the Arecibo telescope later became a pivotal center for groundbreaking scientific achievements. Two scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993 for utilizing the telescope to study a new type of pulsar, a rapidly spinning remnant of a deceased star, providing fresh insights into gravitational research. Despite its position in the hurricane-vulnerable Caribbean, the telescope weathered numerous storms during its 57 years of operation.

The committee now posits that electromagnetic waves generated by the telescope itself may have exacerbated the zinc deformation via a process called electroplasticity. This phenomenon occurs when an electric current flows through a material, rendering it more pliable and likely to lose its original form.

The committee has suggested making the remaining sockets and cables from the site accessible to the research community for further examination to validate this theory. “Regrettably, there was insufficient data to substantiate our explanation,” McCarthy noted. “It is simply the most reasonable hypothesis based on the available data.”

While it is too late to salvage Arecibo, comprehending the reasons behind its collapse could assist in averting similar failures at other facilities. Rather than rebuilding the observatory, the NSF is channeling resources into a new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education center at the location.

Understanding the elements that led to the Arecibo collapse could prove vital in protecting other scientific infrastructure in the future.