Ain’t no repairing it. The 900-ton instrument platform formerly suspended near the dish’s focus by cables, has fallen.

Arecibo telescope collapses, ending 57-year run

Imágenes históricas del colapso total del @NAICobservatory. Sobre 30 fotos aquí: https://t.co/t0cd7ZtbJB

Fotos: @NotiJuan / @noticel. pic.twitter.com/xp6SbwNq8I

— Juan R. Costa (@NotiJuan) December 1, 2020

Así quedó el Observatorio de Arecibo al colapsar hoy en la mañana el radiotelescopio.

(Fotos: Dennis Vázquez, piloto comercial/Facebook) pic.twitter.com/HKov1Fdmlg

— V. Torres Montalvo 🧼 (@Motinsitepegas) December 1, 2020

This was an inevitable result of the National Science Foundations divestment from Arecibo funding, indicating a desire to decommission the place as far back as 2015. it is not now repairable; it is only replaceable. And it really should be: the Chinese FAST scope is bigger, but not only does it not have Arecibos radar capability (thus is can;t search for things like incoming asteroids), it has also been horribly mismanaged in the way that only greedy communists can do 9they built a cell-tower equipped tourist city right next to the damn thing).

So the question would be *where* to build a replacement. Might make sense to build on the footprint of the old, right there at Arecibo. But politically it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to help shove Puerto Rico out into the world on its own as an independent nation… it has been an unincorporated US territory quite long enough. No, it is time to do what should have been done in the seventies: build radio telescopes on the moon. SpaceX’s Starship program will, if it works, provide cost effective lift capability of the kind needed for such a venture.