900 tons suspended on cables??? Yikes!!
Posted on 09/21/2017 1:41:54 PM PDT by LibWhacker
The National Science Foundation has not heard from staff at the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria roared over the island.
A spokeswoman for NSF, which owns the observatory, said the agency hadn't received any official communications from Arecibo since 8 a.m. Wednesday — before the eye of the storm passed over the telescope.
Two of the groups that helps manage the observatory, SRI International and the Universities Space Research Association, also hadn't heard from their staff on site. One observatory staff member who weathered the storm in the town of Arecibo contacted the association via shortwave radio on Thursday. That staff member reported that the power was out, trees knocked down, houses damaged and roads rendered impassable.
According to the NSF, the observatory is outfitted with generators and a well for water. The staff on site have enough fuel and food to last them a week.
The eye of the storm passed Arecibo on Wednesday afternoon. According to the National Hurricane Center, a weather station near Arecibo recorded wind gusts of 108 mph. All across the island, high winds and torrential rain felled cell towers, ripped roofs from buildings and turned roads into rivers.
Now all of Puerto Rico is without power, and Arecibo, along with the rest of the island, is under a flash flood warning.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wikipedia says that the receiving antenna platform weighs 900 tons and is suspended by cables almost 500 feet above the reflector dish. I wonder how that would do in a hurricane.
900 tons suspended on cables??? Yikes!!
If that receiving platform comes crashing down it’ll ruin the dish, geez, what a mess to fix.
http://newsroom.usra.edu/usra-update-on-arecibo-observatory/
...We have no reason to believe that staff sheltered at Arecibo Observatory are in immediate danger since they have generators, well water and plenty of food...
ET send aid!
I’ve been to Arecibo. It is gigantic! It was featured in the movies Goldeneye and Contact. If I’m not mistaken it was built in a sinkhole.
We visited PR and stayed on the beach at Arecibo, about half an hour from the dish. It is an amazing thing to see.
There are an extensive series of caves also nearby.
Probably bigger priorities than a damn telescope.
Probably bigger priorities than a damn telescope.
Any structure built on an exposed mountaintop is going to be built to withstand some fairly intense wind. They were not unaware that Puerto Rico was subject to tropical storms and hurricanes.
“... if a hurricane struck, the whole feed could be raised and lowered. “
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Arecibo_Observatory
Seems the danger is to the reflector, not the ‘900 ton’ receiver.
The eyewall of a Cat 3 hit the observatory in 1998.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Georges_in_Puerto_Rico
But you’re talking about it, aren’t ya? I also see you on here talking about Barbara Streisand, iPhones, etc. WTF, man, don’t you have better things to talk about?... That’s what I thought.
Been there when we lived in PR. The dish is as impressive as the corkscrew road is to get there.
You're right. Arecibo was one of the few things I've ever seen which was larger in real life than in my imagination. The meteor crater in Arizona is another. The telescope is in a very remote area much like West Virginia with hollows and valleys. However, the facility itself is very well built and self-contained. Although, I imagine there was a lot of wood flying around from the nearby jungle/forest. The town of Arecibo, maybe 25 miles away, is a beautiful costal pueblo stretched out along a broad flat beach, not unlike one you might see anywhere in Mexico or Central America. It enjoys no protection from a hurricane and may have suffered badly
I read in another article the max gust at the town of Arecibo was 110 mph compared to the 108 quoted above. That should not be much of a problem if normal wind mitigation efforts were completed. Gusts at the observatory might have been higher but I am curious about how water runoff is handled at the center of that huge reflector / rain capture device.
OK, I read about the sump pump on the other thread. But like the wind gusts, the rain accumulation probably was within design limits (might not be in the case of a stalled hurricane).
Seriously? Piss off...
Wanker.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
