Zinc creep in the cable spelter sockets brought down the 57 year old Arecibo telescope in 2020, a failure sequence that began with Hurricane Maria three years earlier and the first documented case of long term zinc creep in over a century of use.

• The failure sequence began with Hurricane Maria, over three years before the collapse, the report says.
• The telescope’s main platform hung over the 305-metre reflector dish on a set of cables.