Is the same money (replacement cost) better spent on a space-based solution?
I don't think atmospheric absorption/scattering is as much of an issue for radio telescopes as it is for other kinds.
Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
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Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#12This is horrible. Arecibo is still crucial in radio astronomy experiments ongoing as of 2019. It should be repaired, until a replacement is built.
As the article explains, it has been deemed to be unsafe to repair. What's probably missing in that sentence is "...within an acceptable budget."
Not sure... even with an infinite budget, you need time to build your repair solutions. It's possible that for no amount of money can you repair it before it suffers complete collapse without doing risky things that may cause loss of life.
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#13Fuuuuuuuck. I understand the decision to dismantle the failing structure which is currently unsafe and tricky to repair. But might a new one be built in its place? How can we push for that?
Or maybe use all that money to build a good one on the Moon.
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#14This is horrible. Arecibo is still crucial in radio astronomy experiments ongoing as of 2019. It should be repaired, until a replacement is built.
Whose money are you volunteering to be spent on that?
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#15Is the same money (replacement cost) better spent on a space-based solution?
Not really in this case. It’s much cheaper to build a larger and more capable installation on the ground.
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#16Shoot. I had the chance to see it this year but decided to drive past instead. (It is somewhat off the main road that surrounds Puerto Rico.) Granted, most of the island was still without electricity because of the M6.4 earthquake that shook the island two days before, and I had other priorities at the time (eg, tsunamis, survival)...
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#17Is this a symbol of the degradation of human intellectual capability in the 21st century?
Our intellectual capability is not degraded; rather, it's funneled into adtech, porn, social media click optimization, and entertainment. Critical distinction.
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#18Is the same money (replacement cost) better spent on a space-based solution?
A space-based solution won't get you such a large dish. And that means you can't get effective 20 terawatts of output power for active radar across the solar system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory#General_in...
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#19What a great BF4 map.
Re: Arecibo telescope, on the brink of collapse, will be dismantled
#20Fuuuuuuuck. I understand the decision to dismantle the failing structure which is currently unsafe and tricky to repair. But might a new one be built in its place? How can we push for that?
It would seem unlikely in PR given the state of infrastructure there.
The hurricane destroyed a lot of the already failing power and port infrastructure, for instance.
https://www.rollcall.com/2019/11/12/report-puerto-ricos-infr...