Arecibo Radio Telescope Has Collapsed

[Heloin]

It takes an rocket scientist to teach you rocket science. Turns out that shit is hard.


Terrain deformation and destruction physics are expensive and rarely worth it for such demonstrations.

No, that's just laziness. When the terrain rises on most sides, it's entirely inadequate to depict it as all being lower.
Also, not actually showing the dish ...

It's a little quick and dirty version made in a rocket science video game mostly as a joke, partially as a demonstration of the situation. Lighten up a bit.

[Heloin]

The thing was being decommissioned even before this. It was already obsolete and not worth the money to maintain and repair.

FAST will be so much better. And wait a few years, there will be a radio telescope that is better by 3 orders of magnitude. The SKA.

Fast is incapable of Radar astronomy will probably always be incapable since it's not planned to be and would be far to difficult to set up a large enough transmitter over such a large dish. Tianyan and Arecibo are both capable of similar things but specialise in different parts of astronomy.

[Grenartia]

Scott Manley is how I first heard about it.

Also, you forgot to mention that he's basically the guy that taught virtually every KSP player how to play.

It takes an rocket scientist to teach you rocket science. Turns out that shit is hard.

I wouldn't say hard as much as it is 'initially counter-intuitive'. Once you know the basics, it becomes quite intuitive. I aced my astrodynamics class because I have so much experience in KSP, and a lot of that experience is because of Scott.

Scott Manly, a astrophysicist and DJ, has released a simulation of how Arecibo collapsed.

Yet photographs show a big rectangular hole -- roughly the size and shape of the instrument carriage -- plumb in the middle of the dish.

And rents through the aluminium surface, compatible with something very heavy falling on the dish and wrenching its steel sub-structure out of shape.

The simulation is also rather amateurish. What I'd expect from a DJ ...

In addition to what Heloin said, there's also the fact that there was a vertical cliff that restricted the antenna's movement. Basically, when the antenna fell, it likely hit the cliff, and rolled onto the dish from there.

0:46 "The triangular platform has swung around and smashed into the side of the dish"

OK, I exaggerated when I said it fell "plumb in the middle of the dish". It's inexcusable that I indulged in one of my favourite words "plumb" when that was in no way accurate.

One of the cables broke first (unless it was a controlled demolition), and surely its companion cable from the same tower would have broken next. A basic understanding of physics has it that all the other cables would then be under less stress.

Actually, more stress, since the load taken by the now-broken cables has been redistributed to them.

None of them would break until gravity had done its work.

"Swung around (... around the axis of the remaining cables) and smashed into the side of the dish"

If it DIDN'T go like that, then it was a controlled demolition. In fact, we should look into why the ancient cables became so weak at just this time. They survived a hurricane after all.

Combination of a cascade failure, probably weakening through corrosion and various weathering processes, straw that broke the camel's back, etc.

what a tragedy and huge loss to astronomy.

The thing was being decommissioned even before this.

Because of a previous cable failure a few weeks ago, which led to this in the first place.

It was already obsolete and not worth the money to maintain and repair.

That's the fucking bean-counting logic that led to this disaster in the first place.

The thing was being decommissioned even before this. It was already obsolete and not worth the money to maintain and repair.

FAST will be so much better. And wait a few years, there will be a radio telescope that is better by 3 orders of magnitude. The SKA.

Except neither of them will be capable of radar astronomy. As I've said before, we are wandering around in a dark and cluttered room with nothing but a laser pointer designted to amuse cats, after the lightbulb in our flashlight burned out.

But don't take my word for it:

While operational the Arecibo Observatory provided information about earth threatening comet and asteroid impacts, allowing impact and near miss predictions decades into the future such as those for Apophis and other bodies.[5] Being smaller the Goldstone Solar System Radar is less sensitive and unable to provide the same predictive capacity.

Arecibo provided a totally unique and utterly critical service, and we are now worse off for it.

[Telconi]

It takes an rocket scientist to teach you rocket science. Turns out that shit is hard.

I wouldn't say hard as much as it is 'initially counter-intuitive'. Once you know the basics, it becomes quite intuitive. I aced my astrodynamics class because I have so much experience in KSP, and a lot of that experience is because of Scott.

Yet photographs show a big rectangular hole -- roughly the size and shape of the instrument carriage -- plumb in the middle of the dish.

And rents through the aluminium surface, compatible with something very heavy falling on the dish and wrenching its steel sub-structure out of shape.

The simulation is also rather amateurish. What I'd expect from a DJ ...

In addition to what Heloin said, there's also the fact that there was a vertical cliff that restricted the antenna's movement. Basically, when the antenna fell, it likely hit the cliff, and rolled onto the dish from there.

0:46 "The triangular platform has swung around and smashed into the side of the dish"

OK, I exaggerated when I said it fell "plumb in the middle of the dish". It's inexcusable that I indulged in one of my favourite words "plumb" when that was in no way accurate.

One of the cables broke first (unless it was a controlled demolition), and surely its companion cable from the same tower would have broken next. A basic understanding of physics has it that all the other cables would then be under less stress.

Actually, more stress, since the load taken by the now-broken cables has been redistributed to them.

None of them would break until gravity had done its work.

"Swung around (... around the axis of the remaining cables) and smashed into the side of the dish"

If it DIDN'T go like that, then it was a controlled demolition. In fact, we should look into why the ancient cables became so weak at just this time. They survived a hurricane after all.

Combination of a cascade failure, probably weakening through corrosion and various weathering processes, straw that broke the camel's back, etc.

The thing was being decommissioned even before this.

Because of a previous cable failure a few weeks ago, which led to this in the first place.

It was already obsolete and not worth the money to maintain and repair.

That's the fucking bean-counting logic that led to this disaster in the first place.

FAST will be so much better. And wait a few years, there will be a radio telescope that is better by 3 orders of magnitude. The SKA.

Except neither of them will be capable of radar astronomy. As I've said before, we are wandering around in a dark and cluttered room with nothing but a laser pointer designted to amuse cats, after the lightbulb in our flashlight burned out.

But don't take my word for it:

While operational the Arecibo Observatory provided information about earth threatening comet and asteroid impacts, allowing impact and near miss predictions decades into the future such as those for Apophis and other bodies.[5] Being smaller the Goldstone Solar System Radar is less sensitive and unable to provide the same predictive capacity.

Arecibo provided a totally unique and utterly critical service, and we are now worse off for it.

Damn bean counters wanting to spend money.

[Grenartia]

I wouldn't say hard as much as it is 'initially counter-intuitive'. Once you know the basics, it becomes quite intuitive. I aced my astrodynamics class because I have so much experience in KSP, and a lot of that experience is because of Scott.



In addition to what Heloin said, there's also the fact that there was a vertical cliff that restricted the antenna's movement. Basically, when the antenna fell, it likely hit the cliff, and rolled onto the dish from there.



Actually, more stress, since the load taken by the now-broken cables has been redistributed to them.



Combination of a cascade failure, probably weakening through corrosion and various weathering processes, straw that broke the camel's back, etc.



Because of a previous cable failure a few weeks ago, which led to this in the first place.



That's the fucking bean-counting logic that led to this disaster in the first place.



Except neither of them will be capable of radar astronomy. As I've said before, we are wandering around in a dark and cluttered room with nothing but a laser pointer designted to amuse cats, after the lightbulb in our flashlight burned out.

But don't take my word for it:


Arecibo provided a totally unique and utterly critical service, and we are now worse off for it.

Damn bean counters wanting to spend money.

The precise opposite, actually. They have a pathological obsession with not spending money, even when its necessary. These are the kinds of people who would refuse to change the oil for their car to save a few dollars in the short term, even if it means their car breaks down in the middle of rush hour traffic later on, and they have to spend more money on a tow truck later.

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

Rest in pieces.

I wonder if theres a video of the actual collapse.

WapaTV released audio of the collapse just a few hours ago, found here (already linked at relevant minute). It's just a horrible thing which kept twisting and warping and screeching and crashing as it went down. The subsequent testimonies are also just heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. To hear them, it no longer becomes a question of the value of Arecibo as a piece of technology (and comparisons to FAST and others) but also its cultural and academic significance. People strove to reach this telescope. This was the pinnacle of many careers, and hearing it all just screaming apart and being powerless to stop it or fix it must have been crushing.

[Telconi]

Damn bean counters wanting to spend money.

The precise opposite, actually. They have a pathological obsession with not spending money, even when its necessary. These are the kinds of people who would refuse to change the oil for their car to save a few dollars in the short term, even if it means their car breaks down in the middle of rush hour traffic later on, and they have to spend more money on a tow truck later.

I'm aware of what a bean counter is, much co fusion involves it's application to what I posted.

[Esternial]

Would've been nice if they actually had a replacement installation operational before they forgot to properly maint--err-- decommissioned it.

Then again, like with many things you only notice the impact when you lose it, or when it approaches Earth at 50K km/h.

[San Lumen]

https://weather.com/news/weather/video/ ... mStIU7HJ1Y

footage of the telescope’s collapse from The Weather Channel

[Rusozak]

https://weather.com/news/weather/video/watch-arecibo-observatorys-dramatic-collapse?fbclid=IwAR04AsrkIeOkGB1i_-DBUu6xAGeTr36J4GaO38khaMtX56w-ZmStIU7HJ1Y

footage of the telescope’s collapse.

For England, James?

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

https://weather.com/news/weather/video/watch-arecibo-observatorys-dramatic-collapse?fbclid=IwAR04AsrkIeOkGB1i_-DBUu6xAGeTr36J4GaO38khaMtX56w-ZmStIU7HJ1Y

footage of the telescope’s collapse from The Weather Channel

It's like watching a hero you've looked up to for so long just die in front of you. It is disgusting that this was ever allowed to happen, but not entirely unexpected, with the path she was going down. I can't imagine the overwhelming powerlessness the people who witnessed it firsthand or immediately after must have felt.

EDIT: Here is some close-up drone footage of the collapse (already linked at relevant minute). Though it's very gruesome to watch, and I do apologize for that, it does heavily focus on the minutiae of the accident. Failure points in the cable anchors are shown, and it is demonstrated clearly that this was a cascade failure. I also appreciate how visible the force of the failure was, showing the support tower rocking wildly after the cable is ripped from its socket, and the subsequent destruction of the other two towers. The actual crash of the platform upon the dish is not shown, as the drone does not pan its camera around in time to catch it. Prior to this moment is similar, if not the same video, as San Lumen has linked above, which focuses on the platform falling from its home suspended above the dish. It's all captured in impressive quality, which may make it harder to watch.

Again, I'm very sorry for posting this, but I feel it has interesting perspectives on the points of failure. It's hard to believe the awesome force with which the old girl was destroyed, and I'm honestly not even sure if the gravity of the situation, and the loss this feat of machinery, has fully sunk in for me yet.