Catastrophic failure at Arecibo Observatory
3 Nov 2020 0:46:32 UTC
Topic 223889
(moderation:
Tl;dr
3" structural; cable failed, and damaged the dish, systems shut down. Repairs estimated at $10.5M
The failure was on August 10,
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The failure was on August 10, 2020, so is not itself news.
No, the article cited is not referring to a subsequent further failure.
Ah - you are right, missed
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Ah - you are right, missed that bit in the article. Thanks for keeping me honest
archae86 wrote:The failure
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The question is is the data produced used by enough places that repairing the dish is worth it in the long run. If the majority of the data can be gathered in other ways for less than I'd say this thing could take a long time to get repaired. China, yes I know China, just built a HUGE dish that's also gathering data from the sky as it goes by, whether it's the same data that Arecibo gathers, or can be adjusted to do so, then maybe the Scientists won't be as interested in fixing this dish asap.
mikey wrote: archae86
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I believe this is a peek at the dish mikey is referring to: China's dish.
robl wrote: mikey
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Yes exactly...thanks!! Now the question like I said is if China will allow others to capture the data they need from it so things can continue for the Scientists using the Arecibo dish until it's fixed or replaced.
Here is a better image
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Here is a better image
robl wrote: Here is a
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Yup love that one!!
ANOTHER cable snapped in the
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ANOTHER cable snapped in the last few days at Arecibo!!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-good-arecibo-telescope-just-003500905.html
mikey wrote: ANOTHER cable
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suggests to me that they will not pursue restoration. It has served its purpose. I feel certain that the Chinese will share their dish/data.
robl wrote: mikey
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I too think it is getting to the point of too expensive to fix for the returns they are getting with that old of a dish. I wonder if they can come up with a newer dish design to look for something that all the research in between building it and now suggests they should be looking at/for instead?