Giant Telescope Alien Hunter Broken, White House Asked To Intervene
JAKARTA - The Arecibo Observatory was officially closed after a few days ago a giant disk that can detect other life in outer space or aliens has suffered severe damage. On the other hand, the White House was asked to take part in this.
Quoting the Space page, it was reported that two cables supporting Arecibo's giant dish were broken. The observatory also admitted that it was difficult to fix it because it would be dangerous.
Arecibo observatory damage (University of Central Florida)
Given the function of the Arecibo observatory, many researchers and astronomy enthusiasts have petitioned for repairs to the giant radio telescope. They created an online petition asking related parties, including the White House, to fix Arecibo.
One reason is due to the potential environmental impacts of demolishing buildings, including 20 tonnes of lead. Such action would actually counter announcements from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the observatory, that they have deactivated a 1,000-foot (305 meter) wide dish and a heavy platform suspended above it to house scientific equipment.
"This telescope has the most powerful planetary radar system in the world which is responsible for observing asteroids as well as the existence of aliens. The telescope's structure includes 20 tons of lead," the petition wrote.
The astronomy addicts argue that unplanned demolition will potentially make the environment an emergency, because it is located above groundwater and could affect the surrounding population.
"This looks like a disaster. But we can still change the Arecibo Observatory for the better," said petition writer Wilbert Ruperto-Hernandez.