Dramatic video shows collapse at iconic Arecibo Observatory - CBS News

Dramatic video released Thursday shows the catastrophic failure of a support cable and the subsequent 450-foot plunge of a 900-ton lattice-like instrument platform onto the iconic Arecibo radio telescope's huge dish antenna. .

Watch the moment the iconic Arecibo Observatory radio telescope – once the largest in the world – collapsed in Puerto Rico https://t.co/7IHixmuzDD pic.twitter.com/yMyYDV7Olu.

One view, from a camera on the roof of the observatory's control center, showed the instrument platform crashing to Earth, along with the top 60 feet of two reinforced concrete cable support towers that were ripped away.

Another view came from a drone stationed just above support Tower 4 where two cables failed on August 10 and November 6.

The drone operator managed to turn the camera in time to capture the moment of impact and the failures of the other two support towers.

The Arecibo Observatory was made up of a fixed 1,000-foot dish antenna built into a natural depression that reflected radio waves or radar beams up to the receiver array suspended 450 feet above by cables stretching from three support towers.

But on August 10, an auxiliary cable pulled free of its socket on support tower 4 and crashed down onto the dish below, ripping a 100-foot-long gash.

Engineers were developing repair plans when one of the main 3-inch-wide support cables attached to the same tower unexpectedly snapped on November 6.

Engineers were assessing how to carry out a controlled demolition when the third cable snapped, bringing down the instrument platform