4 ms·

The cost of cleanup (which includes restoring the forrest to its natural state) is really what kept it running for a long time-- basically within the budget hor

by nullc 4y ago

The cost of cleanup (which includes restoring the forrest to its natural state) is really what kept it running for a long time-- basically within the budget horizon it was cheaper to keep it running at limp-along levels (which presumably contributed to the failure) than to shut it down. I've long assumed that complete restoration being an assumed mandatory consequence of shutdown was itself a successful gambit from parties that wanted to keep the instrument operational. :)

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
Why does it need to be cleaned up? I thought telescope mirrors had to be absurdly pure. It seems like it would make for a super cool museum.
- nullc 4y ago
  Arecibo was a radio telescope, like a satellite dish. The 'mirror' is a great big metal mesh hemisphere covering 18 acres of land in a mountain valley. It's not an ideal museum location in and of itself because it's almost an hour drive out of the city across some not-sutiable-for-high-traffic mountain roads (see the beginning of the movie Contact for a pretty reasonable view of what the trip out and in is like). Presumably the idea is that if we go around building stuff and just abandoning it we're doing unnecessary harm to nature as well as creating hazardous environments, e.g. when people go in to take the scrap metal and have stuff collapse on them.
- haneefmubarak 4y ago
  > I thought telescope mirrors had to be absurdly pure. It's a radio telescope, so think more along the lines of like a giant satellite dish. At the wavelength of the radio frequency signals, the tiny dust etc don't matter until they start to build up. > Why does it need to be cleaned up? The recent natural disaster(s?) in Puerto Rico damaged it massively, which given its sophistication and size likely means there's stuff strewn everywhere and facility damage. You don't generally want to leave government facilities to degrade to the extreme in disuse, so you still want to stabilize things to make it safe to traverse the area and be able to safely achieve the next goal of the facility and surrounding area.

by nullc 4y ago

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

Why does it need to be cleaned up? I thought telescope mirrors had to be absurdly pure. It seems like it would make for a super cool museum.

nullc 4y ago
Arecibo was a radio telescope, like a satellite dish. The 'mirror' is a great big metal mesh hemisphere covering 18 acres of land in a mountain valley. It's not an ideal museum location in and of itself because it's almost an hour drive out of the city across some not-sutiable-for-high-traffic mountain roads (see the beginning of the movie Contact for a pretty reasonable view of what the trip out and in is like). Presumably the idea is that if we go around building stuff and just abandoning it we're doing unnecessary harm to nature as well as creating hazardous environments, e.g. when people go in to take the scrap metal and have stuff collapse on them.
haneefmubarak 4y ago
> I thought telescope mirrors had to be absurdly pure. It's a radio telescope, so think more along the lines of like a giant satellite dish. At the wavelength of the radio frequency signals, the tiny dust etc don't matter until they start to build up. > Why does it need to be cleaned up? The recent natural disaster(s?) in Puerto Rico damaged it massively, which given its sophistication and size likely means there's stuff strewn everywhere and facility damage. You don't generally want to leave government facilities to degrade to the extreme in disuse, so you still want to stabilize things to make it safe to traverse the area and be able to safely achieve the next goal of the facility and surrounding area.