Ukraine destroys the legendary telescope of the Soviet era formerly used to call the extraterrestrials

The Ukrainian defense forces have destroyed a giant Crimea radiotelescope, a powerful planetary transmitter formerly used to support the missions of deep space and the METI – the attempt at extraterrestrial civilizations.

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

In the Crimea “Gur”, the Russian Radotelescope of RF-70 was destroyed pic.twitter.com/xg0w2hmgij

– Ukrainian truth ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) August 31, 2025

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RT-70 was one of the largest radio stations in the world. Built in the 1970s, the telescope was capable of delivering and receiving signals for spatial experiences, including those carried out by SETI (search for extraterrestrial evidence).

The telescope was used to send several extraterrestrial messages. Between 1999 and 2003, RT-70 was used to send two sets of interstellar messages to nearby stars as part of the Cosmic Call experience. In 2001, a group of Russian adolescents used the telescope to send the signal of the teenage message, a series of interstellar radio transmissions directed towards six stars of sun. In 2008, RT-70 was used to send a high power message to Gliese 581c, a super terrestrial exoplanet. The message, well entitled “A message from Earth”, contained 501 images, text and songs selected by the public through a competition.

In addition to trying to contact extraterrestrial intelligence, RT-70 has also been used to support several space missions from the Soviet era like Venera, Vega and Phobos to explore Venus and Mars. It was also used as part of the Mars Express and Rosetta missions of the European Space Agency.

RadioTelescope has been under Russian control since its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Russia would have used the telescope to improve the accuracy of its Glonass satellite navigation system, which is similar to GPS, according to Space.com.

The annexed Crimean Peninsula is home to key observation installations, including the Shajn mirror telescope, the largest optical instrument in Ukraine and the astrophysical Crimea observatory.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, led to a major loss for Ukrainian research facilities, according to a recent Astronomy report. Astronomical observatories have undergone heavy damage and a lot of equipment have been destroyed, the report indicates. A UNESCO 2024 report estimated that $ 1.26 billion is necessary to restore public research infrastructure in Ukraine.