GoKawiilNAS report blames zinc creep in cable sockets for Arecibo telescope collapse
A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report concludes that long-term zinc creep inside cable spelter sockets caused the 2020 collapse of the Arecibo Observatory's telescope platform. The failure sequence reportedly began with damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017, after which cables showed progressive pullout that eventually let the platform fall into the 305-metre reflector dish. The report calls it the first documented case of such long-term zinc-induced creep failure despite over a century of similar hardware use.