The iconic telescope has been in a precarious state since August, when an auxiliary cable supporting the equipment platform broke and fell through the radio dish, leaving a 100-foot-long gash in its reflective panels. The situation became more dire in early November, when one of the main cables supporting the equipment platform also snapped, leaving the telescope on the brink of a catastrophic collapse. Inspections revealed that other cables were showing signs of weakening and degradation, and over the last couple of weeks, engineers spotted ruptured strands and other signs of impending danger.
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Arecibo Observatory is an analog of any government. Constructed a long time ago. It worked well initially. It worked well for may years. However, thru neglect or incompetence, weakness and corruption creeps into the system. Then the first warning signs of failure. Finally, utter catastrophic collapse.
If only they had done a little preventive maintenance..................
Excellent analogy.
The deterioration greatly accelerated at the end. After having survived a very long time, there was only a short period of time from the first signs of degradation to the first cable giving way to utter and final collapse.