Puerto Rico's Giant Alien Hunter Telescope Will Be Closed Forever

Arecibo Observatory / SETI

JAKARTA - The giant radio telescope owned by the United States (US) which is used to detect asteroids, Arecibo Observatory will be closed forever.

This decision was announced by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) after sustaining two severe damages in recent months.

The telescope in Puerto Rico can detect asteroids that are endangering Earth, analyze distant planets and find signs of extraterrestrial or alien life.

Last August, the Observatory's operations were suspended when one of the building's supporting cables collapsed caused by an earthquake earlier in the year. Then earlier this month another cable broke, causing damage to a nearby cable as well. Obviously, this will prevent researchers from detecting the existence of aliens again.

"NSF has concluded that the recent damage to the 305 meter telescope cannot be overcome without endangering the lives and safety of crew and work staff. NSF has decided to initiate a planning process for the controlled decommissioning of the 305 meter telescope," said the assistant. director of the Directorate of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at NSF, Sean Jones.

According to an analysis by an engineering firm hired by the observatory, "that if the auxiliary mains fail, catastrophic collapse of the entire structure will soon follow."

The observatory's 900-ton reflector disk hanging 450 feet above it, is located in the humid forests of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Over the past five decades, the operation of this giant telescope has resulted in a number of important discoveries.

For information, the Arecibo Observatory played an important role in detecting the asteroid Bennu that approached Earth in 1999. This became the basis for NASA to send a robotic probe there to collect its first soil sample of the asteroid.