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I'm amazed they had a drone up there to catch that. Were they flying drones multiple times a day just to catch this footage?

SkyMarshal 6y ago
Probably, it seems they knew it was imminent.
wolrah 6y ago
The drones were being used by the engineers on site who to monitor things and help plan for the intended demolition. It was more or less pure luck that one happened to be there at the time it happened. Unfortunately for the viewing public it was facing the wrong way for the spectacle, but it'll probably be a fixture in engineering classrooms for years to come as a real world example of cable failure caught on video from up close.
- swader999 6y ago
  Or the drone wash was the straw that broke the observatory's back.
  - wolrah 6y ago
    > Or the drone wash was the straw that broke the observatory's back. Technically not impossible, the drone was close enough to the cable that it was likely exerting some force, no matter how small, on them. There is certainly some chance that in that moment that force was all that was needed to push it past the breaking point. That said obviously from a practical standpoint if it were that close the the edge then the next gust of wind would have done it in anyways.
- im3w1l 6y ago
  Some neat things going on there regarding the cable. If I see it correctly, it looks like a few fibers snap at 0:02. Then nothing happens until 0:05. Stepping frame by frame with comma and period, it seems like a few more fibers snap, after which the strain is too much and the cable just explodes. Cable number 2 goes in a more gradual way. And on cable 3 there is a prominent wave before it falls to the ground.
  - gitrog 6y ago
    Side note: thank you for mentioning the shortcut keys to skip frames. I did not know that!
  - siliconmountain 6y ago
    I noticed this too. Even though it was facing the wrong way, I think engineering classes will still find it valuable to dissect the first and second order effects on these cables over time
- inciampati 6y ago
  During the press conference the NSF gave they indicated that the drone monitoring was continuous. They had a drone up to inspect the array every few hours. It was probably under drone observation for a significant fraction of the time.
- ngcc_hk 6y ago
  Thanks. Wonder as well. That is the remaining two cables?

SkyMarshal 6y ago

Probably, it seems they knew it was imminent.

wolrah 6y ago

The drones were being used by the engineers on site who to monitor things and help plan for the intended demolition. It was more or less pure luck that one happened to be there at the time it happened. Unfortunately for the viewing public it was facing the wrong way for the spectacle, but it'll probably be a fixture in engineering classrooms for years to come as a real world example of cable failure caught on video from up close.

swader999 6y ago
Or the drone wash was the straw that broke the observatory's back.
- wolrah 6y ago
  > Or the drone wash was the straw that broke the observatory's back. Technically not impossible, the drone was close enough to the cable that it was likely exerting some force, no matter how small, on them. There is certainly some chance that in that moment that force was all that was needed to push it past the breaking point. That said obviously from a practical standpoint if it were that close the the edge then the next gust of wind would have done it in anyways.
im3w1l 6y ago
Some neat things going on there regarding the cable. If I see it correctly, it looks like a few fibers snap at 0:02. Then nothing happens until 0:05. Stepping frame by frame with comma and period, it seems like a few more fibers snap, after which the strain is too much and the cable just explodes. Cable number 2 goes in a more gradual way. And on cable 3 there is a prominent wave before it falls to the ground.
- gitrog 6y ago
  Side note: thank you for mentioning the shortcut keys to skip frames. I did not know that!
- siliconmountain 6y ago
  I noticed this too. Even though it was facing the wrong way, I think engineering classes will still find it valuable to dissect the first and second order effects on these cables over time
inciampati 6y ago
During the press conference the NSF gave they indicated that the drone monitoring was continuous. They had a drone up to inspect the array every few hours. It was probably under drone observation for a significant fraction of the time.
ngcc_hk 6y ago
Thanks. Wonder as well. That is the remaining two cables?