In December 2020, the telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed, destroying an icon of scientific research.

On Monday at the AMPP Annual Conference + Expo in Nashville, Dr. John Scully presented the findings from the National Academy of Science’s failure analysis. As part of his presentation, Dr. Scully explored the root cause while also making recommendations for the facility owner and operators.

The root cause of the Arecibo Telescope’s collapse, according to Dr. Scully, was unprecedented and accelerated long-term zinc creep-induced failure of the telescope’s cable spelter sockets. This type of zinc-filled spelter sockets has been used for over 120 years without any reported failures, making this collapse especially concerning.

The start of the 39-month failure sequence was identified as Hurricane Maria in 2017.

This disaster was seen to be largely preventable, per Dr. Scully, and it reinforces need for structural performance management practices of critical structures. He stressed that we need to treat critical components, subject to time dependent degradation, with greater scrutiny as a function of time in service.

He recommended that the owner/operator of a critical facility, where a failure could cause loss of life, should develop and implement a monitoring plan, operations and maintenance manual, site management contracts, and contract compliance.

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