Second (of 12) main support cable snapped. If 900 tons of Gregorian dome fall into the dish, repairs could be slow to never. For now, more steel is supposed to arrive within a week. Which some brave souls will be installing.
Wonder if it was the same architectural firm. Might wana take the business elsewhere. Tho greenbank was poor maintenance - architects need to allow access to critical structural areas for inspection. .
The first Green Bank dish was a "quick and dirty" design. As in "good, fast, cheap, pick any two." The budding field was impatient for a big instrument. They did get 26 years of use from it.
Decommissioning : The end is near for famed Arecibo Observatory's damaged telescope NSF begins planning for decommissioning of Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter telescope due to safety concerns
I read that also. Unclear how they will dismount the Gregorian thing. It weighs 90 tons and contains items of value. Their is also a lot of nice hardware in the observers room and (OMFG) capacitor room. It would be an impressive yard sale.
IMHO: Explosive disassembly - safety Bulldozer removal of debris - cost effective Replace with modern technology - Version 2.0 will be lighter, stronger, and better There comes a time when earlier technology needs to be wiped clean and replaced. Bob Wilson
"Controlled demolition, designed with a specific collapse sequence determined and implemented with the use of explosives, will reduce the uncertainty and danger associated with collapse." It is already too unsafe to allow any humans on the towers or cables.
Blast it? Oh snap. 'Greg' is 1997 technology. Reflector floor is old tech, but curved Al mesh has not changed much. I suppose they swap out receivers whenever money was available. I saw Icom rx in there that were very nice.
IMHO, a phase array receiver makes more sense: larger focus array both latitude and longitude increased resolution including multiple rotational resolution Rebuilding the antenna array from scratch, especially using earth foundations, improve so many thing, it is a shame it wasn't blown up a decade ago. Bob Wilson
I didn't have any problems keeping the observatory around, while it was still useful. Palomar was built in '28 and it's still a fairly nice instrument .....just don't 'marry' the bloody thing. If the operational costs become prohibitive? Cut bait and move on. Love the logo. Throwback to the original mission???
That's all good and fine, just let me at it so I can have one thing .... I want to use a lot more distilled water and the fresnel lens it undoubtedly has could be put to really really good use heating water. birds flying through the focal point be damned .
I'm trying to think of a good way to work in the "Sir, this is a lighthouse" joke, but not quite there yet.
Arecibo used pretty hefty lasers to study chemistry of upper atmosphere. They are noted on terminal area chart. My flight instructor would not go near the place. It is quite scenic from a few thousand AGL
Sir, this is a ... possibly apocryphal story. The aircraft carrier that thought a lighthouse was another ship-Fiction! - Truth or Fiction?
I duná Žno, that site says the Navy officially denied it, but the link they give to the official denial goes to a 404 page. They can't fool me.
