Ukraine Destroys Legendary Soviet-Era Telescope Once Used to Phone Aliens

Ukrainian defense forces destroyed a giant radio telescope in Crimea, a powerful planetary transmitter once used to support deep space missions and METI—the attempt to message extraterrestrial civilizations.

Ukraine destroyed Yevpatoria RT-70 in a drone attack to prevent Russia from using it for military communication purposes, Space.com reported . Russian defense forces reportedly carried out recent upgrades to the telescope to support attacks on Ukrainian territory, but the 230-foot (70-meter) antenna dish was built by the Soviet Union to study Venus and Mars and communicate with deep space probes.

Phone home

The RT-70 was one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. Built in the 1970s, the telescope was capable of delivering and receiving signals for space experiments, includi