Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost

[Admin]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will decommission Arecibo Observatory's massive radio dish after damage has made the facility too dangerous to repair, the agency announced today (Nov. 19).

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost : Read more

 

[alfa0153]

So sad

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence will continue with the SETI Institute, Breakthrough Initiatives, Berkeley SETI, and the SETI Project.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

No, this can be repaired. This instrument is important to the world with the work it does. You people give up too easily. First it should have been undergoing constant inspections weekly and this could have been avoided. I am sure there are contractors that would take on the job to repair it. If you need addition funding I am sure it wouldn't be too hard to get. The longer you wait the more it is going to cost and it will deteriorate even more.

 

[Wolf28]

Is there any advantage to building something bigger, better and more advanced on the moon (less gravity and less environmental degradation) instead of pouring money into old technology like Arecibo?

 

[DrRaviSharma]

I think Wolf@8 your suggestion has merit.

The Arecibo dish used natural landform and mesh structure of the dish. Looking at the elements of structure, flimsy at today's thinking need either expensive repair or reconstruction.

There might now be similar landforms if we must look at other geolocations now accessibility is more compared to when it was built. World must be aware of loss to already stressed Puerto Rico economy

Study needed to compare other radio telescopes arrays and frequency spectrum studies that would be impacted without Arecibo

Can Satellites building one in space be cost effective, especially if atmosphere or ionosphere (Van Allen Belt) do not attenuate desired frequencies (wavelengths).

Once the Gap analysis is done, correct choice can be made including rebuilding there with improved infrastructure

Thanks Meghan Bartels for this important news.

 

[Helio]

Is there any advantage to building something bigger, better and more advanced on the moon (less gravity and less environmental degradation) instead of pouring money into old technology like Arecibo?

Yes, and I think a lot has been already considered in the last 10 years, perhaps. The back side of the Moon eliminates all the heavy radio interference that only gets worse on Earth. The numerous arrays that use interferometer seems to be an established technology, unlike optical interferometry.

I would expect radio scopes would be the first to get established on the Moon. Large IR or optical would likely come thereafter.

 

[DrRaviSharma]

Wow
Hello and Wolf28 have hit it.
SO far China has done great work on far side of Moon but we can all do it. Lunar Space Station Gateway is being built.
Landing and deploying the telescope will be possible. one would need gateway to receive data and then transmit to earth.
Yes IR UV and other frequencies telescopes with less size limitations would complement Chandra and James Webb observations beyond Hubble.