Wake up to very bad news. The Arecibo Radio Telescope Catastrophic Collapse !!!
Is this really the end of an era ?
When new ideas and technology is released there is no going back.
At least she went out in style right.
As Kurgan once said "It is better to burn out than to fade away".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vchDbyIRP44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRHXCWr7xt0
Yep ; this is what I was saying before on the other thread. The NSF said that the inspection report was bad since it had degraded for so long that there would need to be a complete replacement of all the cables and many other aspects.
There is simply not enough money support or other scientific support to continue. Plus as I mentioned, many of the other Earth telescopes are threatened by our RF devices from noise and also forthcoming space junk debris from micro-satellites.
So it will be a challenge to keep the existing other ones going and some will have to be sacrificed. This happened to many traditional telescopes from population densities and also from air pollution near the cities (e.g. telescopes in Los Angeles).
The entire collapse showcases the danger that existed even if they were to repair it. So going out in a blaze of collapse may be the least painful way to decommission it.
I am just quite stunned. I did not expect a collapse of this magnitude.
Why did they not lower one side of the instrument platform when they had safety concerns.
Talk about having a group face palm moment.
The operators were told not to do anything since it was considered very unsafe at the time and this was after a through inspection. Probably a very good thing since no one was hurt, so I think that it worked out well.
It just goes to show that nothing lasts forever and *if* they truly wanted to save it, then they would have done so decades ago.
What's important now is to create a national park out of the area to preserve the wildlife and natural areas. The telescope did that with restrictions. Now that the restrictions are gone there may be heavy development in the area.
Also here's a good video on what its like to go to the reflector and how dangerous it could have been ! :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vicxDnn6LEY
And here's another one showcasing how large it is :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3WiRunOsWY
So its really HUGE !!
Hello Steven,
They were good videos.
I am more worried about the PR repercussions of this.
I know people like ourselves will remember Arecibo telescope for the incredible discoveries it made. However my worry is there are an exception who will use this as an engineering disaster case. An example of what happens when you reach for the stars.
In my opinion this should have been prevented. Large entities and international corporations intentionally use third world countries to get around regulations. I am not saying this is the case for this specific situation but in developed western countries this kind of blatant level of disregard for maintenance and repair for such a large structure would never have been allowed to happen without serious consequences.
This is in no way referring to you or your previous comment Steven but I am getting very sick of large entities and international corporations, especially hollywood of virtue signalling of climate change and preserving the planet when their actions show an outright disregard and show a very different story. If they are going to preach a high standard then I believe they should live by them.
Jason ;
Hollywood and the news media all have agendas. That is the only fact that they present. Whether their agenda aligns with the betterment of a nation or of mankind (humankind for those who are politically correct) is a question of priorities and also of a nation's economic wealth.
The understanding since WW2 is that the US would be the leader and caretaker of the world, which makes sense when the US is the leader in economic growth. However as the US economy has been declining over the last 2 decades due to mismanagement of domestic policy, bailouts to those who are undeserving (e.g. big banks), a turn-your-head attitude to market protections, and excess debt all have accumulated in its demise.
Therefore its up to other countries to take the lead and to support the scientific future of mankind. Whether this is a communist country like China that uses its science for a political agenda, or whether its European nations is anyone's guess.
The US has promoted advanced technologies and still is with the forthcoming James Webb Telescope, but it cannot afford to take on new projects *and* support old ones; something has to give.
So if you think about Chinas 500m radio astronomy dish (in terms of science) then that is the next generation of radio astronomy. Whether it will be open to all other countries is doubtful if you consider how open they were with the Chinese corona virus transparency with the WHO before, during, and even now.
So lets see how things eventually play out. Who knows maybe those involved will rethink how much value it provided and they might even build a much better one ! So here's to wishful thinking.
Steven
Hello again Steven,
Just to clarify my view is without question we must take care of our planet and our home. Not taking care of our transport and life support system while we travel through the stars is simply insanity as is consuming all our resources.
You are quite correct something has to give when it comes to funding.
The path forward for funding needs real scientific debate from everyone. Political opinion has infected everything. I try to avoid it but when people are told they cannot question or in certain circumstances cannot even discuss talk or even debate the science. This is causing severe mistrust and irreparable damage to the scientific community. The foundation of science is based on debate and overall consensus. Without debate and overall consensus science becomes nothing more than doctrine.
You cannot tell the public they must dedicate large financial resources in the form of taxation and tell them they can not even question the science. That’s insane. I don’t see why they are so frightened of the scientific debate as all it does is seek truth to conclude scientific consensus? The debate is never finished it is simply repeated and fact checked over and over through the generations. Scientific consensus leads to cohesion, unity and intellectual advancement that improves sustainability and standard of living over time for everyone. Dictating of beliefs leads to doctrine and servitude although can also have the effect of unity and intellectual advancement.
As they say round and round it goes. Where it stops nobody knows.
I spoke with one of the team members at Arecibo and there is a movement starting for public support to rebuild the Antenna, so here's your chance to voice your opinion if you want to save it :
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/rebuild-arecibo-observatory
Well done that straight away. Fingers crossed.
Many thanks Steven
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