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The Arecibo Observatory is a 309 meter wide radio telescope located in Puerto Rico. Not only can it be used for passive observing of radio frequencies, it has also been used as an active source — to bounce radar signals off planetary bodies — and then use its receiver to perform imaging studies.
Hurricane Maria caused tremendous damage across Puerto Rico — many people are still struggling to find food, water, and power. Though most of the potential damage was mitigated, the observatory did sustain millions of dollars in damages and it is possible that this may lead to its being closed:
As Hurricane Maria hammered the Caribbean last week, a handful of researchers hunkered down in concrete buildings at the Arecibo Observatory with food, well water, and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel for generators. They had done their best to secure the observatory, a 305-meter-wide radio dish nestled in the karst hills of northwestern Puerto Rico. They stowed removable antennas and waveguides, locked movable instrument packages in place, and installed storm shutters on control room windows. Now, they have emerged to find only moderate damage to the observatory, on an island that has been devastated elsewhere. "It's a thing to be thankful for," says Arecibo Deputy Director Joan Schmelz.
But many are worried that the damage, likely on the scale of millions of dollars and apt to keep the observatory closed for weeks or months, will further threaten the existence of Arecibo, which is already on a short list of facilities facing possible closure or downsizing by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, Virginia. "I fear that if there is significant damage, that will provide the decision point to decommission the observatory," says space scientist John Mathews of Pennsylvania State University in State College.
The surface of the dish was largely unscathed, and the observatory's most vulnerable component, the instrument platform suspended high above the dish by cables strung from three towers, each more than 80 meters tall, was still in place and seemed undamaged, says Schmelz. She is based at the Columbia, Maryland, headquarters of one of Arecibo's operators, the Universities Space Research Association, and spoke with staff in Puerto Rico who first used a ham radio and then a single working satellite phone. But the roofs on some observatory buildings were blown off, the sinkhole under the dish was flooded, and other equipment was damaged by rain and fallen trees. Most significantly, a large portion of a 29-meter-long antenna—the 430-megahertz line feed used for studying the upper atmosphere—appears to have broken off and fallen from the platform into the dish. Mathews estimates a bill of several million dollars to replace the line feed alone.
There are competing needs for funding. Arecibo has been superseded as the largest radio telescope by China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). Will this be the straw that break's Arecibo's funding back?
Previously:
China Builds World's Largest Radiotelescope
China Can't Find Anyone Smart Enough to Run its Whizzbang $180M 500 Meter Radio Telescope
China Begins Operating World's Largest Radio Telescope
(Score: 5, Touché) by coolgopher on Thursday September 28 2017, @02:04AM (8 children)
I agree. The banks need to be dealt with. Even if it's with the military option. ;)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday September 28 2017, @02:36AM (7 children)
Trump is a real piece of shit. I just looked up his tweets to see if he gives a fuck about the disaster, and the parody account here basically parroted him. The comedians are right, he literally does their jobs for them. You may have well as responded to the real bastard himself.
Looking around, Trump has yet to do jack shit. Congress is waiting for their requests, and the ball is basically in his court. Instead of saying anything presidential at all, he makes a comment about how much money they owe. Talk about a fucking hypocritical bankruptcy-going son of a bitch that needs to be removed from office. Forcefully, if necessary. Taking-a-knee isn't as nearly important as the humanitarian crisis on U.S territory. Of course I say that, but we didn't come through for Katrina's communities either. Man, Puerto Rico is fucked.
The only person that seems to give a shit is John McCain, and he is actually doing his damn job. Dear Sweet Jesus how much did the right fuck up when they didn't nominate him.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @03:52AM (3 children)
> Man, Puerto Rico is fucked.
Yep, everywhere, not just the radio telescope.
Just heard from an old friend from the midwest USA. He has been living cheaply on his ~28 foot sail boat in the Caribbean for ~20 years. He was moored in a harbor in PR this year. Did OK in the first storm that passed by, two larger boats got loose upwind of him but he managed to motor off to the side (while still anchored). Maria was much worse, 150+ mph winds and this time his boat was sunk by a derelict boat that broke anchor upwind of him.
He's giving up on the whole area, following his GF to Columbia. Sounds like he's giving up boat life for now.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:19AM (2 children)
Couldn't he just have sailed to a location not affected by the hurricane? Or was the warning time too short for that?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:25AM (1 child)
I thought he would sail out of the storm path, but the way it sounded the boat wasn't ready for that long of a trip. He'd been moored too long, let boat maintenance slip while doing other things in PR (like working).
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @06:44AM
...boat maintenance slip...
I see what you did there.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 28 2017, @05:05PM
Yep. It makes sense considering Trump said the following, claiming he's not preoccupied by important national matters such as NFL players.
Trump:
He has plenty of time to do comedians' jobs for them. But it also fits with "All I do is work" because that work saves the comedians time.
That is also consistent with having plenty of time on his tiny hands.
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(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 28 2017, @06:06PM (1 child)
I believe the theory that he didn't even know Puerto Rico was part of the US until several days after the disaster.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 29 2017, @02:04PM
Now that he knows Puerto Rico is part of the US, this will spoil his plans to build a wall along the US and Puerto Rico border.
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