Wimps. Something like that is worth risking a few lives for.
Where were you?
The opposite side of the planet. And I wasn't informed that it needed attention. If I had the skills and could get there I would have chipped in.
On Dec 9, 2020 at 6:17:02 PM MST, "Bob F" wrote <rqrsu7$ij9$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Whatever the reason it is a shame it was lost.
It was used worldwide but if the maintenance was left to the PR's it would be FUBAR. I'm all in favor of Puerto Rican independence. As long as it's hanging in its current status some assholes will try to make it a state.
I don't really understand this. About 2 weeks before the "collapse" I heard that it was being de-commissioned because of funding, etc. Then everyone reports that it suddenly collapses. The pics look like, as someone suggested, that there were some small explosives breaking the cables. A good news story? ... a conspiracy theory? ... fake news?
The history seems to be that first a main cable broke. A plan to repair it, subject to acquiring funding, was being considered when another cable broke. The engineering assessment was that it was now unsafe to work on as the other cables might have deteriorated too much. Presumably it was decommissioned by simultaneously breaking all the remaining cables (?with explosives) so at least they knew where it would fall. Where funding comes in is that, with hindsight, a bit of preventive inspection and maintenance on the cables, as is done with suspension bridges, would have been good if they had had the funding to do it.
I spent some time in PR in 1975 working with the phone system. routine maintenence was non-existing. I suspect it was the same for Arecibo.
1) That was almost fifty years ago, and anecdotal. 2) The phone system wasn't a research project funded by the USA. Apples != Oranges. 3) The climate is not particularly conducive to longevity metallic structures. 4) The observatory has been underfunded for decades.
On 14 Dec 2020, Todesco wrote (in article <rr87o7$ki$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me):
There are several problems with the above, but the main one is very simple. The facility was physically located in Puerto Rico, true enough... but it was run by the University of Central Florida and was owned by the National Science Foundation. Those two institutions, not Puerto Rico, were responsible for operating and maintaining it. Puerto Rico would have had zero say, or responsibility. Analogy: the Kennedy Space Center is in Florida, but is run by NASA with some USSF involvement thanks to Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, both inherited from the USAF. Florida has not a bloody thing to do with running or maintaining it. TIt?s the same with other major astronomy and space facilities.
On 14 Dec 2020, Scott Lurndal wrote (in article <CXNBH.25022$ snipped-for-privacy@fx33.iad):
And Puerto Rico isn?t responsible for the funding, the National Science Foundation and the University of Central Florida are.
On Wed, 09 Dec 2020 14:46:25 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted for all of us to digest...
Can you hear me now? 10-4 Roger
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