Terrifying footage shows collapse of Arecibo Observatory's massive radio telescope
The demise of the Arecibo radio telescope has left everyone reeling.
A major blow to space exploration
- Thread starter sebastiantombs
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Frankenscript
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You beat me to it by half an hour! I was going to post that.
I'm shocked and saddened by the November decision to demolish the observatory. Then, to have it actually collapse, while a drone was out inspecting it... just wow. Thank gosh nobody was injured during the collapse.
While a very sad piece of footage, that is definitely one for the record books.
I'm shocked and saddened by the November decision to demolish the observatory. Then, to have it actually collapse, while a drone was out inspecting it... just wow. Thank gosh nobody was injured during the collapse.
While a very sad piece of footage, that is definitely one for the record books.
That was a very valuable resource and such a shame that it was allowed to get to the point of failure. One would think that regular inspections of the suspension cable using either xray or magnetic techniques would have been a part of normal maintenance. While a 900 ton load isn't high in terms of a suspension bridge, it's still quite a heavy load and those cables were straight, which adds significant load, versus the droop of a suspension bridge cable. Just a very sad and disappointing situation.
I hate that.....I remember a few shots of it in the 1997 Movie "Contact".
I very easily could be wrong but it appears every cable had to be intact, no redundancy or over-building so each cable could support many times its normal load so that if one cable failed it would not be like dominoes.
I very easily could be wrong but it appears every cable had to be intact, no redundancy or over-building so each cable could support many times its normal load so that if one cable failed it would not be like dominoes.
Frankenscript
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I read an article that agreed there wasn't enough redundancy, but apparently time ate away at the cable connections, insufficient maintenance (budget), and serious strain from Hurricane Maria were significant factors.
The loss of the radio telescope function is one thing, but it was an important radar/ranging facility that I think had no peer.
A huge loss to the scientific community and due to tourism effects, another economic blow to Puerto Rico at a time when it is most unwelcome.
While we are here, if you saw the movie Contact, I strongly recommend reading the book. I found the book preferable, particularly the final chapter ("The Artist's Signature") that was entirely absent from the movie.
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The loss of the radio telescope function is one thing, but it was an important radar/ranging facility that I think had no peer.
A huge loss to the scientific community and due to tourism effects, another economic blow to Puerto Rico at a time when it is most unwelcome.
While we are here, if you saw the movie Contact, I strongly recommend reading the book. I found the book preferable, particularly the final chapter ("The Artist's Signature") that was entirely absent from the movie.
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bigredfish
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Frankenscript
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They already decided "no intelligent life here" and moved on.
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bigredfish
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Yeahbut that’s because they landed in California
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Frankenscript
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Better to drop four "outdoor" sized plastic bags, two for each in case the first one breaks.