4 years after the giant Arecibo Observatory collapsed, we finally know what happened

[Admin]

The Arecibo Observatory collapsed in 2020, and a new report suggests a zinc decay was to blame for its death.

4 years after the giant Arecibo Observatory collapsed, we finally know what happened : Read more

 

[Viking]

Main cause of failure appears to be stupidity.

 

[newworldsexplr]

I heard that besides the Arecibo being a world class radio telescope for decades and in most of my lifelong interest in space as I was born in 1960 and have been interested in astronomy space exploration since I learned how to read at 4 or 5 years old that Arecibo also had very good relations with the people of Puerto Rico. I heard this included a place that was especially an inspiration and a chance to get experience in astronomy and physics for native Puerto Rican university or grad students. What is being done by the government or Puerto Rico and the United States to make some new or upgraded especially astronomy or physics research facility in Puerto Rico to also encourage more young people there to enter into and continue in work in science and technology especially the physical sciences?

 

[George²]

What is being done by the government or Puerto Rico and the United States to make some new or upgraded especially astronomy or physics research facility in Puerto Rico to also encourage more young people there to enter into and continue in work in science and technology especially the physical sciences?

Nothing concrete yet. But it is possible that the new government will set a real new target. However, the implementation of such will require continuity, since it is hardly possible to implement it only within one mandate.

 

[fj.torres]

Main cause of failure appears to be stupidity.

More precisely, lack of maintenance funding from NSF.

They were more interested in starring in pressers of "new!" projects than supporting a valuable facility. Before the hurricane they were looking for ways to offload the telescope to the local government or an NGO or if not shut it down.
It was going to be shut down sooner rather than later.

The bureaucrats were happy when it fell because it "freed up budget" to spend on their preferred projects. None of which even begins to address the science the observatory carried out.

Not to be forgotten: the Arecibo radar was the first line of defense against incoming asteroids.

 

[Mustellus]

Incoming asteroids? Sadly, one problem radars have is that they can 'see' the ionization trails left by meteorites as they burn up in earth's atmosphere. To avoid this clutter, most ignore anything coming at us at above escape velocity.
This means the entire Aurcturian Empire invasion fleet can approach, and we won't notice till it goes into a closed orbit.

 

[Pogo]

Typical of our infrastructure maintenance, build it, don’t maintain it enough, then scratch our heads when it falls. Like many bridges and buildings.

Just a shame it won’t be rebuilt, it was awesome.

 

[TomMariner]

NSF and the University in Florida stole the maintenance money for their pet projects.

As others have pointed out -- not just the largest radio telescope that passively receives signals from "out there" -- it is by far the world's most powerful radar, able to bounce massive radio waves off passive stuff hurtling toward wiping out cities on Earth.

Maybe we should have said that Arecibo could create "Artificial Intelligence" so some post-Doc professor could have written a paper that got a grant. Even better, if Puerto Rico were a State, they could have called on their Senator to grab the money.

I manned a USAF radar station just up the coast from Arecibo at Punta Salinas so I have a grasp on both the geography and the technology.

 

[billslugg]

The Arecibo dish was built by a general contractor Amos Carlton Samford Jr. His son, Bill (RIP), was my age and lived about a mile from me here in town up until he got run over by a car 1-2-2015. In his house, Bill had some black and white construction photos of the dish and a plaque with his Dad's name on it.

 

[fj.torres]

Incoming asteroids? Sadly, one problem radars have is that they can 'see' the ionization trails left by meteorites as they burn up in earth's atmosphere. To avoid this clutter, most ignore anything coming at us at above escape velocity.
This means the entire Aurcturian Empire invasion fleet can approach, and we won't notice till it goes into a closed orbit.

Incoming asteroids, yes. Long before they hit atmosphere or even lunar orbit.

You do know the Arecibo radar mapped the surface of venus?
And detected all sorts of NEOs before they got close. That is how it mapped their surfaces and orbits. It wasn't the only radar that could do it (even Goldstone can) but it was the most powerful.

Here:

Beyond the Hype: The Future of NEO Tracking and Exploration

Discover the essentials of NEO Tracking. Learn what it is, how it works, and why it's important. Click to explore!

orbitshub.com

There is still a NEO tracking program but it lost a lot of capability with Arecibo.

The arcturians won't get all that close without cloaking tech.