The telescope had three radar transmitters, with effective isotropic radiated powers (EIRPs) of 22 TW (continuous) at 2380 MHz, 3.2 TW (pulse peak) at 430 MHz, and 200 MW at 47 MHz, as well as an ionospheric modification facility operating at 5.1 and 8.175 MHz. The ground beneath supported shade-tolerant vegetation. The dish surface was made of 38,778 perforated aluminum panels, each about 3 by 7 feet (1 by 2 m), supported by a mesh of steel cables. The telescope's main collecting dish had the shape of a spherical cap 1,000 feet (305 m) in diameter with an 869-foot (265 m) radius of curvature, and was constructed inside a karst sinkhole. Ĭomparison of the Arecibo (top), FAST (middle) and RATAN-600 (bottom) radio telescopes at the same scale local time on December 1, 2020, destroying the telescope. Before it could be decommissioned, several of the remaining support cables suffered a critical failure and the support structure, antenna, and dome assembly all fell into the dish at 7:55 a.m. Due to uncertainty over the remaining strength of the other cables supporting the suspended structure, and the risk of collapse owing to further failures making repairs dangerous, the NSF announced on November 19, 2020, that the telescope would be decommissioned and dismantled, with the radio telescope and LIDAR facility remaining operational. Two cable breaks, one in August 2020 and a second in November 2020, threatened the structural integrity of the support structure for the suspended platform and damaged the dish. The telescope was damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and was affected by earthquakes in 20. Since 2006, the NSF has reduced its funding commitment to the observatory, leading academics to push for additional funding support to continue its programs. The center was named an IEEE Milestone in 2001. It has been listed on the US National Register of Historic Places since 2008. It is one of the 116 pictures included in the Voyager Golden Record. The telescope's unique and futuristic design led to several appearances in film, gaming and television productions, such as for the climactic fight scene in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995). In 2018, a consortium led by the University of Central Florida assumed operation of the facility.
The observatory, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with partial support from NASA, was managed by Cornell University from its completion in 1963 until 2011, after which it was transferred to a partnership led by SRI International. NASA also used the telescope for near-Earth object detection programs. Scientists wanting to use the observatory submitted proposals that were evaluated by independent scientific referees.
The Arecibo Telescope was primarily used for research in radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and radar astronomy, as well as for programs that search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Completed in November 1963, the Arecibo Telescope was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, until it was surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in Guizhou, China. A cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals were mounted 150 m (492 ft) above the dish. The Arecibo Telescope was a 305 m (1,000 ft) spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico.