4 ms·
Why were they filming? As in why was the drone in place and looking at a close-up of the cable?
by lgrebe 6y ago
Why were they filming?
As in why was the drone in place and looking at a close-up of the cable?
- wil421 6y agoI’m sure everything has been creaking and making noise. They probably went up inspect it. I can see a few frayed cables before it starts to give way.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- rootusrootus 6y agoWasn't it expected to fail at any moment? I imagine they've been watching pretty closely with drones for the last few days/weeks.
- fanf2 6y agoThe press release from last week https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=301674&org=NSF&from=news https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=301674&org=NS... says: “During ongoing aerial drone surveillance of the Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter telescope, engineers observed additional breakages on the exterior wires of the remaining cables attached to Tower 4. This is the same tower to which the failed auxiliary cable and the broken main cable were attached.” “Engineers have been examining the Arecibo Observatory 305-meter telescope since August, when one of its support cables detached.”
- dvtrn 6y agoTo aid in future investigations of the structural failures I would imagine? As I understand it from reading various news reports and a video from one Scott Manley, the damage from the recent earthquake had this collapse in the “when” column not “if”.
- dylan604 6y agoJust squeezing one last bit of science out of the place. Sure, it's not the science it was designed to for, but science none-the-less
- bob1029 6y agoThis is quite the coincidence. The drone operator seemed prepared for exactly what was coming.
- madengr 6y agoThere's that saying about the "flap of a butterfly's" wings initiating a hurricane. In this case it's the prop wash from a drone.
- soneil 6y agoThere's probably a lot more warning than the video makes it look like. For example, the cables flaking significant chunks of paint could be a clue that the cable's changing geometry. It seems fairly logical that it was being inspected precisely because this was anticipated. It's not like it was a surprise, it's exactly why they said they couldn't put manpower on it.
- nwsm 6y agoYes, they did. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25151342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25151342
- db48x 6y agoEveryone has known for weeks that it would collapse, and that they could no longer even demolish it safely.
- userbinator 6y agoI was expecting the drone to look towards the falling platform a bit quicker, after all the cables broke. I don't think the operator was prepared to see that.
- solarkraft 6y agoThe risk of collapse was known to be very high. Two cables had snapped beforehand and they already didn't have people come near it for safety reasons (hence inspection via drone).
- ASalazarMX 6y agoArecibo scientists reported creaking and cable fraying from days before. These videos took their sweet time to surface, given that the observatory was likely monitored close since it was deemed too dangerous to salvage. The first day we had a picture of the dish and some dust, the next day we had a video that was blinded by the sun, basically just audio. I didn't expect drones, but I'm grateful for that closure.