Arecibo's demise and possible rebuild.

[Uncwilly]

There is a petition to get the Feds involved in trying to save it.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...adio-telescope

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

There is a petition to get the Feds involved in trying to save it.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...adio-telescope

It is a forgone conclusion that The Original Orangutan will not do anything about it. I love that name. Perhaps after January 20, it might receive more attention.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could do something to save it. I was impressed by the construction methods used by a bridge building company which replaced a local bridge crossing The Ohio River. A set of temporary piers were built which attached to the existing piers. The new bridge was assembled on barges in sections which were hoisted onto the temporary piers. When complete, the old bridge was demolished, and the new bridge was slid onto the permanent piers after some refurnishing. The slide attracted a lot of attention. There were reps here from NASA, Mammoet, Corps of Engineers, The U.S. Navy, and from countries across Europe and Asia. They wanted to understand the process, strand-jacking, on a structure this large and heavy.

Sorry about my rambling. I really hope Arecibo can be saved. Its collapse would be a loss for everyone.

[firejuggler]

ah, the old cost/benefit dilemma. After all, how many live has been saved by astronomy?
you can't plot a curve wich correlate a number of live saved with astronomy , right ?
Adventure is the spice of life, but right now, we have no time for this. this is a time of survival.
(remember Dead poet society?)


I'm evidently greatly saddened by the demise of the telescope. But it is an old one, a giant old one.

And to quote Pratchett, “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...”

[kruoli]

Or to quote Hector Barbossa (The Carribean: At Worlds End): “Dying is the day worth living for.”

It certainly has been doing a great job.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by firejuggler

ah, the old cost/benefit dilemma. After all, how many live has been saved by astronomy?
you can't plot a curve wich correlate a number of live saved with astronomy , right ?

A goodly number. Some of the optics/cameras that are used all of the time were made available because of astronomy. Astronomy led to improved navigation, which saved some lives. Handling large data sets is something that astronomy has played a leading role in. Some of the NASA spin-offs come from things developed to study the planets, etc. That is astronomy in the traditional sense.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by firejuggler

ah, the old cost/benefit dilemma. After all, how many live has been saved by astronomy?

Have been? Not sure. Potentially, or could be saved by astronomy? All.

One of the things the Arecibo Telescope did (as Uncwilly alluded to in a previous post) was using its radar to help detect and get good orbital information for near-earth objects. Without such information, about all we could do (assuming we detected an asteroid coming at us before it hit) would be to say something like, "Dang! We should have kept the Arecibo Telescope working! We should have taken planetary defense more seriously!"

[masser]

Arecibo collapses

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by masser

Arecibo collapses

Confirmed. Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope, already damaged, collapses

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A huge, already damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century completely collapsed on Tuesday.

The telescope's 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below.

The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

The collapse stunned many scientists who had relied on what was until recently the largest radio telescope in the world.

"It sounded like a rumble. I knew exactly what it was," said Jonathan Friedman, who worked for 26 years as a senior research associate at the observatory and still lives near it. "I was screaming. Personally, I was out of control.... I don't have words to express it. It's a very deep, terrible feeling."

[xilman]

Originally Posted by masser

Arecibo collapses

Arecibo is no more, it has ceased to be, bereft oflife it rusts in pieces.

[PhilF]

Originally Posted by xilman

Arecibo is no more, it has ceased to be, bereft oflife it rusts in pieces.

Another victim of 2020. RIP.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by masser

Arecibo collapses

I just saw it on a local new feed. Very sad. Now, I wonder if the dish itself can be repaired and repurposed? The primary issue with this is money. They don't have much, or any.