Well, I just learned more about the AreciboTelescope in 12 mins. than I have in the last twenty years. Great topic choice with many interesting asides about the telescope I've not read elsewhere. Thanks, Scott.
Same. I recall a (I think) Veritasium video a while back where he actually visited and talked with one of the scientists, but IIRC he was more focused on one specific experiment/observation they were doing there at the time than the facility itself.
Indeed. I've been aware of this thing since Jodi Foster phoned home in the 90s, and hear about it on a semi-regular basis, but never really KNEW much about it. Thanks Szyzyg!
What's the point of trying to communicate with aliens when reality is a simulation? Why create multiple sentient species within contact distance when you know that they will interfere with each others evolution and progress?
@Philip A smart engineer will always include redundancy. Failure is a fact of life. All things will sooner or later fail, expected or unexpected. This proves that the redundancy was necessary.
@@topixfromthetropix1674 Don't blame the engineer entirely. He very well could have pushed for redundancy, but his budgeting department gave him the shaft.
my recently deceased cousin, Dr. Ray Jurgens used this telescope to make Doppler images of Mercury and near earth asteroids . He also worked a team that rebuilt the Goldstone radio telescope. I've been reading some of the published research because Mercury made headlines again with the discovery of organic molecules in the atmosphere...its kind of sad that 2020 will have taken my cousin and this very valuable instrument.
As a ham radio guy, I just love Arecibo Observatory. Joe Taylor, who got his nobel prize in Physics for work at Arecibo, once pointed the Transmitters at the moon, and the reflected signal was so strong on earth, people with a small antenna and a handheld radio were able to talk to him, from half of the planet.
@@nagualdesign That's the nice thing about ultra high gain antennas like the Arecibo telescope: It works both ways. If you are able to hear someone, and have the same power transmitter as them, they will probably be able to hear you as well. People with only 1-2m long Yagi antennas and less than 50 watt transmitter power were able to communicate both ways.
@@nagualdesign he is talking about a handheld transceiver (transmitter & receiver, usually referred to as HT or handheld by amateur radio operators). The Friis transmission equation being what it is, as long as the antenna gains and the path loss work out, then Arecibo can hear even a low power transmission from a handheld transmitter.
The cool thing about Rogue Transmission is that it is supposed to be the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) located in China, but it wasn't built before they made the map, so they took inspiration from Arecibo. So the map is pretty much the Arecibo telescope transplanted in FAST's location lol
0:05 Arecibo Observatory incident context 0:39 cable snap and photos of damage 3:00 possibly spelter socket failure? 3:53 Arecibo history 5:52 pulsar research, and the CP 1919 ridgeline plot used as album cover 6:37 history continued: 7:15 frequency response upgrade to perforated aluminium panels 7:49 add fencing to block black-body radiation from terrain 8:11 add gregorian focusing system 9:28 pulsar discoveries - gravitational wave evidence, extrasolar planets 10:18 asteroid observations via radar, 10 AU limit 11:00 funding history and closing remarks
Typically the cables will fail at that point due to corrosion. They require periodic maintenance and inspections, as well as greased to prevent corrosion. They also have a finite lifespan, if they stretch too much eventually they'll snap. I've dealt with similar cables on guyed towers of 1500 to 1800 foot heights. Most of those towers when they fail often are due to corrosion on guy wires. I'd be doing some emergency inspections on the remaining cables, especially any installed at the same time that cable went in. Could easily have been a defect in manufacturing that might exist on other cables.
Scott is suggesting that the wire-end, however securely it seemed to be potted by its geometry, appeared to have simply popped out of its socket en masse.
@@-danR That only happens if it was defective, overloaded or corrosion caused a failure. All the more reason to inspect the rest of them. Normally the cable fails before the sockets do if it's overloaded, so I would think defect or corrosion are more likely the case.
@@andycanfixit I'm looking at the contractor's catalog (Muncy), where they include Arecibo among their works: "Our Projects Speak For Themselves" p. 13.
Yes, looking at the photo of the Spelter Socket without any cable, it is reasonable to expect that either the cable pulled through (highly unlikely) or that corrosion right where the cable 'exits' the socket (not uncommon) was sufficient to cause the cable to fail. An interesting post today on LinkedIn by Herbert Weischedel , owner of an NDT company, showing the failure of the IWRC element of a cable that did not show any particular visual evidence of markers to be concerned about.
@@rs2352 That does not surprise me. Depending on the cable size and equipment either ultrasonic or x-ray are the only means to inspect the cable ends. When in doubt a cable will be replaced and destructive inspection done to see how bad it may be. I am sure that end will be dissected and I would not be surprised if it has heavy corrosion in it.
I remember that. About 20 years ago I bought a new computer (AMD Athlon) and it could do one whole packet per day! I was amazed. Ran SETI@home for half a decade and would watch the FFT display regularly.
@@JohnnyWednesday clean rag? Don't waste a clean rag! Get me one out of the toolbox in the shed, and grab some plywood, I gotta make a 4 wheeler ramp while I'm there.
@@TylerDWard True that. Ever since it got broken, my cuppa tea takes 3 whole seconds more to heat up. That's the amount of heat this telescope was radiating. I think the rainforest will evolve a sort of vegetative blanket to stay warm now that there is less radiation from that telescope.
Omg guys!!!!! If this telescope was creating so much MANY MANY radio waves 😲😲😲imagine what all the radio stations around the WORLD is doing to our rainforest 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤫🤫🤫🤫🧐🧐🧐
As a puertorican space nerd, this made me cry. Still does. I really hope it gets fixed. My dream house it's a house, on the top of a hill, looking down on the observatory's dish. :-(
How about a house somewhere outside the tropics, with a long, narrow balcony sticking out over a huge parabolic mirror (with a drain hole in the centre)? You could lean over, look down and see amazing things. Just remember: OUTSIDE the tropics.
I am hearing a lot of people saying that Arecibo was made obsolete by the new FAST telescope in China. This is *not* the case. FAST may be larger, but it lacks Arecibo's radar capabilities, and its design makes it impossible to upgrade it to an active radar instrument. This means that observations of Near Earth asteroids, which are important to determine their risk to Earth, can only be made by Arecibo. (Sadly, the only other radar instrument in the world that could observe asteroids, Goldstone, is also offline since last year due to a damaged klystron.)
Also, new, larger instruments don't make the old ones obsolete most of the time. Telescope time is rather restrictet and another, bigger instrument means more time for students on this one.
@@mirwurscht7515 Absolutely! This is true for optical instruments, and it is also true for large radio telescopes, of which there are so few. And bimblinghill is right, the two telescopes are on opposite sides of the Earth, adding to their complementary value. Not all observations are time critical, but some are.
As far as the western world should be concerned, Arecibo is the only radar telescope of any value right now. No one should trust or do any business, research, or science with the Chinese CCP government.
The fact that it's so hard to get this one-of-a-kind gift-to-science funded is a source of national embarrassment for the U.S. Both political parties used to brag about how much they were spending on science. We've fallen pretty far.
Well, simple fact is it has been obsolete for decades now. Technology doesn't sit still and nostalgia doesn't get much Federal Funding unless its for a political museum or somesuch.
@@fortusvictus8297 A reflector dish is a reflector dish, and this is a big one. The tech that made SINGLE LARGE dishes obsolete are electronic advancements that allowed phased arrayed multiple SMALL DISHES to function as one large dish. Still, there are disadvantages to that approach. Next year someone will come up with a novel CHEAP active material that reflects AND amplifies radio signals that could be coated onto existing dishes which will make SINGLE LARGE dishes in demand again, but . . .
@@dr.floridaman4805 well when everything is privatized it's more expensive for the consumers while the 1% gain from it. That's why medicine which is super cheap to produce (sometimes just a couple dollars) sells for thousands of dollars. The mUh FrEedUm sounds very romantic but it doesn't work because companies always have the priority to maximize profits no matter what.
@@dr.floridaman4805 Privatization disincentivizes scientific discovery because innovation is only pursued if it could make profit. Most of the scientific discovery that we have now would never have existed because there would be no one to fund it. Privatizing science would be a terrible idea.
Hang on, hang on, you're telling me that we've got a radar that can ping stuff 10 AU away and pick up the return echo o_0 that's all the way out to saturn, that's insane.
How about if we send a signal out, then 24 hours later (when the dish is back facing the same way) we detect the signal coming back? Assuming there's something out at 86 AU to reflect it back, of course! I do hope they can get better funding, as well as get things repaired in a timely fashion.
namibj welp we should biuld one that can see to Pluto. It should take a dish that is around. 1.2 Km in diameter. If builed correctly it can be very powerful and very persice. But very delacit.
Yeah. The aftermath of the explosion in Beirut looks pretty much like Hainan Resort after taking down the hotel. It's not like I'm worried, but has anybody checked on the Hoover Dam recently? (:
The same technique is used in the Elevator industry to support elevator cables its called a Rosebud. the end of the cable is unwound (after being secured with ties to prevent further unwinding.) the ends of the strands are bent over and put into the center of themselves forming the "Rose" flower assembly. this is slid down into a cone shaped metal cone. then melted Babbitt is poured into the rose to solidify. and capping off the end of the cable then the assembly is attached to the car./ or what ever device being used.
Awesome seeing a video about my islands telescope from Scott Manley! My friends works there and posted those pictures when the accident occurred. Very sad. Boricua represent 🇵🇷🇵🇷
@Mark Hepworth New World Information and Communication Order Wiki: UNESCO has been the centre of controversy in the past, particularly in its relationships with the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the former Soviet Union. During the 1970s and 1980s, UNESCO's support for a "New World Information and Communication Order" and its MacBride report calling for democratization of the media and more egalitarian access to information was condemned in these countries as attempts to curb freedom of the press. UNESCO was perceived as a platform for communists and Third World dictators to attack the West
I learned SO MUCH of that Radio Telescope of PR from this video, than all the years I've spend living there. Thank You so MUCH for keeping your videos AD free.
It is an iconic image burned into everyone's mind when they think about radio telescopes & deep space. When engineers say " let's build it big, really big!" They absolutely did! It is a Marvel of Mankind's Ingenuity & love for knowledge about space. I hope that they can get it fixed soon, maybe give it a paint job & throw a upgrade! Thank you Scott for the great video! Until next time my friend,........ Fly safe!👍📡🚀
Honestly I don't think so bc you could look at earthquakes at a reason why it failed. I mean do we know how this kind of machinery does with constant tension on it from earthquakes?
It's sad that things like this require public funding while our government spends several hundreds of trillions on weapons of war and death. I'd pitch in too though!
@@anarchyantz1564 Fair enough, we do need security. Call me a utopian, but I want to believe one day the threat of death and pain won't be nessecary to be seen as powerful, and instead we will work together to expand our species into the stars!
Honestly, it sounds like a good idea to cut out the middle man. The gov isn't that great at distributing money to people who'd actually make good use of it.
I was just thinking this is the kind of thing you'd see as a fake news clip in the opening credits of an asteroid or alien invasion movie: "The Arecibo Telescope was damaged today..." Next up is unexplained power failures in major cities.
Everyone thinks the hats only purpose is to keep "them" from reading your mind. But it's other purpose is to intercept signals of this nature as well. I could teach you a thing or two.
Regarding the ionospheric research motivation to have Arecibo built: The math was correct if you neglect collective effects between electrons and ions (so-called incoherent scatter, or non-collective Thomson scatter). The insight gained by subsequent experimentation (and the antenna used for this was massive, just not as big as Arecibo) was that if you use a wavelength larger than the Debye length of the plasma, you see the ion motion embedded in the electron scatter (collective Thomson scatter) and the received power is concentrated into 10s of kHz of bandwidth instead of MHzs of bandwidth for non-collective scatter. More power in less bandwidth means the signal to noise ratio is higher, so you need a less sensitive system. Bill Gordon and others did a lot of fantastic work. It wasn't a mistake in his math, but a discovery by others as part of the scientific process.
I mean, I was talking about the ISS needing new comms, but... let's be honest, that whole clusterfuck was just human nature, mixed with the Minbari being the Vorlons' most flagrant puppets being Minbari.
My wife and I ended up taking a cruise that boarded in Puerto Rico. They had "shore excursions" you could take, and I insisted on the trip to Arecibo to see this thing in person. You can't even imagine the scale of this thing until you stand near it and gaze upon it with your own eyeballs. I was standing in the observation area on the rim of the reflector, admiring the feed suspended in the air. And while looking at it, I saw these small little green things sorta bolted on the side. And then I realized those little green things were large HVAC chillers, like you'd find on the roof of a data center! That really helped calibrate the scale for me. That feed suspended out there is essentially a multi-story high building suspended on cables! The guy doing the tour noted that there's very active management of those cables that are on large reels. As the temperature changes, of course the dimensions of those steel cables also change and they have to reel cable in and out to keep the feed in the correct position. There's also a number of stories where the transmitting capability of this antenna was used to recover spacecraft. I think I remember reading about one amateur radio satellite where there were two conflicting modes - the transmitter in one mode could be on the same band as a command receiver or something, and the transmitter would desense that receiver, and normal commanding wouldn't work because of this. The solution? MORE POWER. Put a kiilowatt transmitter on a zillion dB (well, what, maybe 30db? I dunno) antenna and just brute force your way into the receiver. I think it was also used by the group to try to recover that one spacecraft that was in solar orbit, and where NASA no longer had the equipment to transmit commands to it. Some SDR hacking later + lots of dB of antenna gain -- got them much of the way there. What an amazing resource for the US, and a shame we can't invest the relatively tiny amount of $$$ to keep it operating. When I had visited, I believe at that time much of the funding was via the NSF, with Cornell as the "operator" of the facility. I sure how we can find a way to support this literally one-of-a-kind resource for the future.
Scott, thanks for including inches and feet to what was germane to the story. It kept the story tempo moving and engagement with you sharing your story. Thanks for including me in sharing this interesting story
Scott; Back in the late 70's I was in Puerto Rico (Navy) and 4 of us biked across the island from San Juan to Ponce. We decided to ride across the north coast and stop at Arecibo. When we arrived we found the obligatory locked gate and signs warning anyone to keep out. While we stood there debating whether to move on, a car came down the road and we moved aside. The man in the car asked what we were doing? We just wanted to take a look at the telescope. He said sure and we followed him into the site. We got to walk under the dish. It was interesting and we got to see the control room. We thanked him profusely and rode back and finished our trip, then returned to San Juan by bus. Still remember looking at the dish in awe.
I live here in Puerto Rico, though in another city East of Arecibo. Thank you for talking about the incident of the telescope. I hope repairs are made swiftly and scientific research may resume.
We need more from Scott Manley. ✌🏻 Keep up the great work. Please make a video on what it would take to terraform Mars. It will be great to get your views on it.
30 years ago, I was working with a man who had worked on the construction of the Arecibo Radio Telescope. I remember looking through his photo album, and I wish I had a few of them to share now. Before the current dish that we know today, there was a grid of wires that covered pretty much the same footprint. My friend told me that before they could build the dish we know today, they had to clear the vegetation from the valley, and that it was infested with snakes.
One thing: the broken cable was part of the 1990s upgrade, so it is one of the six (of 18) newest cables. I am glad you presented the damage to the Gregorian dome. This is likely the most serious damage, and that is because we are approaching peak hurricane season, and a storm like the 2017 Maria or 1998 Georges may very likely destroy the Gregorian. Those triangular panels of the geodesic shell protect the subreflectors and receiver/transmitter instruments inside. The 1990s upgrade was a $30M investment by the American people, and we all stand with UCF and the top flight staff at Arecibo as the work tirelessly to repair this damage.
Scott, first, thanks for all the great content. Regarding the Spelter Socket and potential failure mode of the cable, suggest you take a look at a video posted today on LinkedIn by Herbert Weischedel . This makes it clear how a cable could deteriorate to an extent that causes it to fail without exhibiting many of the 'telltale' characteristics one looks for. Being on site, anyone with a reasonable amount of experience working with cables of this nature would be able to state with a degree of confidence if this were a 'pull through' event or corrosion at the scoket.
Good treatment..! I visited back in the 70's, when you could wander into the control room if you were clever. And, again in this century after the Gregorian upgrade, and the very nice visitor center were added. As an RF tinkerer, this place is a temple of the Gods..! KC6UPS
Thanks for reporting in it. Don't worry guys, the search for extraterrestrials won't stop! We have the FAST radiotelescope and soon we will have the Square Kilometer Array, able to detect alien airports 200 light years away (according to its engineers).
@@rogeramjet100 I don't think Scott would use a proprietary and particularly specialized bonding consumer name for a generic potting epoxy. He'd simply say 'epoxy'. The company in question that did the Arecibo cables is Muncy, and they still use zinc for those sockets. muncyindustries . com/Catalog/socketing-zinc.php
I've never seen cables that large use epoxy, doesn't mean none have but I have seen cables that large replaced in the last year and they were done with zinc.
I heard the lead researcher for the double pulsar discovery speak. He came to Princeton University as a guest speaker at the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton about 20 years ago. I was a member for a couple years. That night I brought 2 engineers from work to hear the lecture. Yes... They did win a Nobel for that work. That was the only time I saw Peyton Hall filled to standing room only.
Man this is so sad. The telescope was a big part of Puertorrican tourism and now that its going to be demolished I feel like we've lost a national treasure. 🙁
If they're all the originally installed cables, then a failure like that will require every last cable to be replaced. If they were all installed and made to measure at the same time, its possible they will fail at similar times also.
Well, I just learned more about the AreciboTelescope in 12 mins. than I have in the last twenty years. Great topic choice with many interesting asides about the telescope I've not read elsewhere. Thanks, Scott.
Same. I recall a (I think) Veritasium video a while back where he actually visited and talked with one of the scientists, but IIRC he was more focused on one specific experiment/observation they were doing there at the time than the facility itself.
Tom Scott also has a good visit video
Well said, William.
Indeed. I've been aware of this thing since Jodi Foster phoned home in the 90s, and hear about it on a semi-regular basis, but never really KNEW much about it. Thanks Szyzyg!
@@andrewlavey6992 Thank you. Scott is very much my go-to guy for all matters related to space flight and its environs.
Sorry aliens. “The number you are trying to reach has been temporarily disconnected. Please hang up and dial again.”
Too soon, bro. 😞
Because quarantine has officially begun. Safer that way, wouldn’t want to pollute the galaxies.
Bastards were calling collect anyway.
how do you know they use Western Electric Model 500 telephones?
What's the point of trying to communicate with aliens when reality is a simulation? Why create multiple sentient species within contact distance when you know that they will interfere with each others evolution and progress?
I saw the articles on FB and thought I'd just wait for Scott's video lol
Good call 😉
IFLscience had a good article but Scott is more enjoyable to watch
Same
When it comes to space news, I ONLY listen to Scott Manley or Tim Dodd. These guys know their stuff!
Yep! Me too, one can always count on Scott to clear up a vague story!
"Now you might think that a cable snap would cause the structure to fall, luckily engineers are smart."
I can't look at the Tacoma Narrows bridge being blown down by wind and think engineers are particularly gifted.
Not all engineers are created equal.
Looks like the maintenance crew did not have an engineer! ;-)
@Philip A smart engineer will always include redundancy. Failure is a fact of life. All things will sooner or later fail, expected or unexpected. This proves that the redundancy was necessary.
@@topixfromthetropix1674 Don't blame the engineer entirely. He very well could have pushed for redundancy, but his budgeting department gave him the shaft.
my recently deceased cousin, Dr. Ray Jurgens used this telescope to make Doppler images of Mercury and near earth asteroids . He also worked a team that rebuilt the Goldstone radio telescope. I've been reading some of the published research because Mercury made headlines again with the discovery of organic molecules in the atmosphere...its kind of sad that 2020 will have taken my cousin and this very valuable instrument.
As a ham radio guy, I just love Arecibo Observatory.
Joe Taylor, who got his nobel prize in Physics for work at Arecibo, once pointed the Transmitters at the moon, and the reflected signal was so strong on earth, people with a small antenna and a handheld radio were able to talk to him, from half of the planet.
They may have been able to listen to him, but not talk to him, hey? 😉
@@nagualdesign No! The aerial is designed to pick up very, very, very, tiny signals. It can hear a lot.
@@nagualdesign That's the nice thing about ultra high gain antennas like the Arecibo telescope: It works both ways. If you are able to hear someone, and have the same power transmitter as them, they will probably be able to hear you as well.
People with only 1-2m long Yagi antennas and less than 50 watt transmitter power were able to communicate both ways.
@@sadiqmohamed681 Have you ever used a handheld radio? They don't transmit anything!
@@nagualdesign he is talking about a handheld transceiver (transmitter & receiver, usually referred to as HT or handheld by amateur radio operators). The Friis transmission equation being what it is, as long as the antenna gains and the path loss work out, then Arecibo can hear even a low power transmission from a handheld transmitter.
I came here to say Battlefield 4's Rogue Tansmission levelution event.
yes correct
lmao
HAHAHAHAHA!!! I was thinking the same thing .... they reached the Evolution...
I miss that game... loved that map
I always wondered how accurate bf4's map was.
Scott Manley: This is a brand new episode
BF4 Players: Hey I've seen this one before
There are going to be alot of BF4 references. We don't even need to watch this video. We already understand what happened.
The cool thing about Rogue Transmission is that it is supposed to be the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) located in China, but it wasn't built before they made the map, so they took inspiration from Arecibo. So the map is pretty much the Arecibo telescope transplanted in FAST's location lol
just google when battlefield 4 was set
something very messed up is happening in the universe right now
I also was like, hey this happened in BF4 haha
deadass when I saw the thumbnail
0:05 Arecibo Observatory incident context
0:39 cable snap and photos of damage
3:00 possibly spelter socket failure?
3:53 Arecibo history
5:52 pulsar research, and the CP 1919 ridgeline plot used as album cover
6:37 history continued:
7:15 frequency response upgrade to perforated aluminium panels
7:49 add fencing to block black-body radiation from terrain
8:11 add gregorian focusing system
9:28 pulsar discoveries - gravitational wave evidence, extrasolar planets
10:18 asteroid observations via radar, 10 AU limit
11:00 funding history and closing remarks
The cable was snapped by a guy who shoot it in tank thinking he was in BF4
"LEVELUTION"
The game is set in 2020...
Guys they made Rogue Transmission into a real thing omg.
Can't wait for the Siege of Shanghai
FoxTail737 ITS HAPPENING
Kinda doubtful that you'd get a tank up there. Evidently you've never actually been there.
Typically the cables will fail at that point due to corrosion. They require periodic maintenance and inspections, as well as greased to prevent corrosion. They also have a finite lifespan, if they stretch too much eventually they'll snap. I've dealt with similar cables on guyed towers of 1500 to 1800 foot heights. Most of those towers when they fail often are due to corrosion on guy wires. I'd be doing some emergency inspections on the remaining cables, especially any installed at the same time that cable went in. Could easily have been a defect in manufacturing that might exist on other cables.
Scott is suggesting that the wire-end, however securely it seemed to be potted by its geometry, appeared to have simply popped out of its socket en masse.
@@-danR That only happens if it was defective, overloaded or corrosion caused a failure. All the more reason to inspect the rest of them. Normally the cable fails before the sockets do if it's overloaded, so I would think defect or corrosion are more likely the case.
@@andycanfixit
I'm looking at the contractor's catalog (Muncy), where they include Arecibo among their works: "Our Projects Speak For Themselves" p. 13.
Yes, looking at the photo of the Spelter Socket without any cable, it is reasonable to expect that either the cable pulled through (highly unlikely) or that corrosion right where the cable 'exits' the socket (not uncommon) was sufficient to cause the cable to fail.
An interesting post today on LinkedIn by Herbert Weischedel
, owner of an NDT company, showing the failure of the IWRC element of a cable that did not show any particular visual evidence of markers to be concerned about.
@@rs2352 That does not surprise me. Depending on the cable size and equipment either ultrasonic or x-ray are the only means to inspect the cable ends. When in doubt a cable will be replaced and destructive inspection done to see how bad it may be. I am sure that end will be dissected and I would not be surprised if it has heavy corrosion in it.
Arecibo RT was also for years the source of the data for SETI@Home, one of the first successful distributed computing project.
I remember that. About 20 years ago I bought a new computer (AMD Athlon) and it could do one whole packet per day! I was amazed. Ran SETI@home for half a decade and would watch the FFT display regularly.
When they fix it can they also get a pressure washer after that grime? In fact, I have a pressure washer, I'll get her done.
That's the spirit!
That is what I was thinking. If they provide me with a flight and a place to sleep and some food I would clean that right up for them.
“Could someone wash that please? Wait, no I have a pressure washer. You can pay me in reddit karma.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) nice
@@JohnnyWednesday clean rag? Don't waste a clean rag! Get me one out of the toolbox in the shed, and grab some plywood, I gotta make a 4 wheeler ramp while I'm there.
@@JKTCGMV13 the ultimate r/powerwashingporn post.
It was a combination of damages from Hurricane Maria, the earthquakes that hit our Island in the last year and also lack of maintenance and funding.
Good! I hope another earthquake hits Puerto Rico! Hopefully a 10.5!
The cable broke because it's 2020.
it didn't break, It slipped through
@@TylerDWard yeah, because it's 2020
That Telescope was radiating the Earth anyway, (my theory) so I’m glad it’s broken, lets see how the rainforest responds
@@TylerDWard True that. Ever since it got broken, my cuppa tea takes 3 whole seconds more to heat up. That's the amount of heat this telescope was radiating. I think the rainforest will evolve a sort of vegetative blanket to stay warm now that there is less radiation from that telescope.
Omg guys!!!!! If this telescope was creating so much MANY MANY radio waves 😲😲😲imagine what all the radio stations around the WORLD is doing to our rainforest 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤫🤫🤫🤫🧐🧐🧐
As a puertorican space nerd, this made me cry. Still does. I really hope it gets fixed.
My dream house it's a house, on the top of a hill, looking down on the observatory's dish. :-(
i am a puertorican space nerd too, i no longer live there, but i have gotten up close to it before. i hope it gets fixed. :(
If you get this house, please don’t use WiFi
Kek
How about a house somewhere outside the tropics, with a long, narrow balcony sticking out over a huge parabolic mirror (with a drain hole in the centre)? You could lean over, look down and see amazing things. Just remember: OUTSIDE the tropics.
@@Sableagle Just don't point it at the sun, might make a focused death ray and burn whatever it is pointed at.
*rogue transmission intensifies*
Who rpged the cables
Somebody snapped the cable to take down the Fantan chasing him.
Hey guys if you like space videos then do visit my channel pls once it's an interesting channel about space pls ...🙏🙏
ULA SNIPERS.
I THOUGHT THE SAME THING WHEN I SAW THE THUMBNAIL
I am hearing a lot of people saying that Arecibo was made obsolete by the new FAST telescope in China. This is *not* the case. FAST may be larger, but it lacks Arecibo's radar capabilities, and its design makes it impossible to upgrade it to an active radar instrument. This means that observations of Near Earth asteroids, which are important to determine their risk to Earth, can only be made by Arecibo.
(Sadly, the only other radar instrument in the world that could observe asteroids, Goldstone, is also offline since last year due to a damaged klystron.)
Also (and I don't know this) but if its pointing in a different direction, then it will always add some value even if its not unique?
Also, new, larger instruments don't make the old ones obsolete most of the time. Telescope time is rather restrictet and another, bigger instrument means more time for students on this one.
@@mirwurscht7515 Absolutely! This is true for optical instruments, and it is also true for large radio telescopes, of which there are so few.
And bimblinghill is right, the two telescopes are on opposite sides of the Earth, adding to their complementary value. Not all observations are time critical, but some are.
Well, we also have NEOWISE at least
As far as the western world should be concerned, Arecibo is the only radar telescope of any value right now. No one should trust or do any business, research, or science with the Chinese CCP government.
The fact that it's so hard to get this one-of-a-kind gift-to-science funded is a source of national embarrassment for the U.S. Both political parties used to brag about how much they were spending on science. We've fallen pretty far.
Well, simple fact is it has been obsolete for decades now. Technology doesn't sit still and nostalgia doesn't get much Federal Funding unless its for a political museum or somesuch.
@@fortusvictus8297 A reflector dish is a reflector dish, and this is a big one. The tech that made SINGLE LARGE dishes obsolete are electronic advancements that allowed phased arrayed multiple SMALL DISHES to function as one large dish. Still, there are disadvantages to that approach.
Next year someone will come up with a novel CHEAP active material that reflects AND amplifies radio signals that could be coated onto existing dishes which will make SINGLE LARGE dishes in demand again, but . . .
@@dr.floridaman4805 well when everything is privatized it's more expensive for the consumers while the 1% gain from it.
That's why medicine which is super cheap to produce (sometimes just a couple dollars) sells for thousands of dollars.
The mUh FrEedUm sounds very romantic but it doesn't work because companies always have the priority to maximize profits no matter what.
@@fortusvictus8297 Oh, are there some other, newer, sexier telescopes somewhere else that are just drowning in government funding?
@@dr.floridaman4805 Privatization disincentivizes scientific discovery because innovation is only pursued if it could make profit. Most of the scientific discovery that we have now would never have existed because there would be no one to fund it. Privatizing science would be a terrible idea.
Cable falls and hits dish...
Some guy in the background:
"Promoted!!!"
Juna (battlefield music starts)
This comment’s so good haha
I got little birdie legs.
dip dip potato chip
Honestly though, if I ever worked there, also knowing about battlefield 4, I would've shouted it and then be concerned.
Hang on, hang on, you're telling me that we've got a radar that can ping stuff 10 AU away and pick up the return echo o_0 that's all the way out to saturn, that's insane.
Clearly we need to take a large crater and just build a bigger one. Saturn isn't far enough.
@@namibjDerEchte There is an idea for something like that on the far side of the moon, look up LCRT.
@@namibjDerEchte Like the one in Arizona?
How about if we send a signal out, then 24 hours later (when the dish is back facing the same way) we detect the signal coming back? Assuming there's something out at 86 AU to reflect it back, of course!
I do hope they can get better funding, as well as get things repaired in a timely fashion.
namibj welp we should biuld one that can see to Pluto. It should take a dish that is around. 1.2 Km in diameter. If builed correctly it can be very powerful and very persice. But very delacit.
The funding comes from sales royalties of the movies Golden Eye, The Losers and Contact.
I wish. Then they'd be flush with funding.
The world is starting to look more like a Battlefield game. Seeing these images is giving me BF4 flashbacks.
I was thinking the same thing, I sat on those towers and sniped down on people. Also walked the cables like a tight roap
BF4 is set in 2020 as well. Abandon all hope lol
Yeah. The aftermath of the explosion in Beirut looks pretty much like Hainan Resort after taking down the hotel. It's not like I'm worried, but has anybody checked on the Hoover Dam recently? (:
P. A.
US be like: me and the boys here to Siege Shanghai
also US: gets EMP’d, losing entire Pacific Command and fleet
The same technique is used in the Elevator industry to support elevator cables its called a Rosebud. the end of the cable is unwound (after being secured with ties to prevent further unwinding.) the ends of the strands are bent over and put into the center of themselves forming the "Rose" flower assembly. this is slid down into a cone shaped metal cone. then melted Babbitt is poured into the rose to solidify. and capping off the end of the cable then the assembly is attached to the car./ or what ever device being used.
Why, why did this have to happen. And here we are, 3 months later, and the whole thing has collapsed. Thanks 2020
You were close, Scott. The University of Central Florida manages the telescope.
UCF, really? Where I am from it has a reputation as a party school.
@@harryganz1 Yes, it sounds like UCAL at Chino.
@@harryganz1 that'd be the school of business, reputation earned there. Weirdly the science and engineering schools are pretty solid
@@harryganz1 It looks like a great place for a party though
Some of the B-roll footage of the telescope had a UCF logo in the corner, I'm surprised Scott didn't notice that when preparing the video.
Awesome seeing a video about my islands telescope from Scott Manley! My friends works there and posted those pictures when the accident occurred. Very sad.
Boricua represent 🇵🇷🇵🇷
Considering its importance, I've often wondered why it hasn't been awarded something like a UNESCO designation.
Didn't save Palmyra from the barbarians
Because for people that decide those things, science is something that is not important.
@Mark Hepworth New World Information and Communication Order
Wiki: UNESCO has been the centre of controversy in the past, particularly in its relationships with the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the former Soviet Union. During the 1970s and 1980s, UNESCO's support for a "New World Information and Communication Order" and its MacBride report calling for democratization of the media and more egalitarian access to information was condemned in these countries as attempts to curb freedom of the press. UNESCO was perceived as a platform for communists and Third World dictators to attack the West
Every political/cultural entity always have their hands out for "donations." Only to see 40% or more of them go for "administration costs."
@@Rich-hy2ey a lot more
I learned SO MUCH of that Radio Telescope of PR from this video, than all the years I've spend living there. Thank You so MUCH for keeping your videos AD free.
Alec Trevelyan: “For England, James?”
James Bond: “No. For me.”
the scene from goldeneye
When they repair it, they should put a big smiley face on the dish.
No they should make a big line down the middle.
you know...like a big butt
No thet need a nipple slightly off center
Myna Imrie suffer
@@mynaimrie WHY ARE HUMANS IMMATURE?
*collapse behind PC* ugh i hate humanity
The telescope is going to be demolished :(
Yeah there’s been quite a lot of earthquakes here in Puerto Rico very recently so that probably played a really big part.
Shakey house gang✊😔✌
And the many hurricanes it went thru throughout its lifetime, and humidity. Like of course it’s gonna break at some point
@@foxhound6516 and now they want to demolish it :/
Safety reasons. It’s truly sad but safety priority.
Underground wars...
"Loading: Conquest - Rogue Transmission"
Suspect seen fleeing area identified as a "James Bond" by Interpol.
It is an iconic image burned into everyone's mind when they think about radio telescopes & deep space.
When engineers say " let's build it big, really big!" They absolutely did!
It is a Marvel of Mankind's Ingenuity & love for knowledge about space. I hope that they can get it fixed soon, maybe give it a paint job & throw a upgrade! Thank you Scott for the great video!
Until next time my friend,........
Fly safe!👍📡🚀
The Arecibo Radio Telescope also appears in The X-Files S2E1 "Little Green Men"
Was in the movie "Contact," but the VLA got more screen time.
Love the fact there are Dragonriders of Pern books in the background. That series is on my all-time high favorite books list.
And a fine selection of Iain M. Banks Culture novels!
Ok, who has “Arecibo Radio Telescope destroyed by one broken cable” on their 2020 Apocalypse Bingo card?
I think a hive of Murder Hornets formed on the restraining joint, and their collective effluvia corroded the cable to the point of failure.
I had meteor [sad face]
I had "the cable goes out". Does that count?
@@garydouglass3597 Close enough for government work
Ok, if we survive this - somebody gotta shoot a movie about this year! It's out of a textbook apocalypse movie.
Some mechanical engineer is probably going to get their Ph.D. studying why that socket failed.
Covid 19
Honestly I don't think so bc you could look at earthquakes at a reason why it failed. I mean do we know how this kind of machinery does with constant tension on it from earthquakes?
I am sending them $100. Especially since I have watched dozens of videos and never been asked to visit Patreon or hit the "like" button. Thanks Scott!
I was literally watching the final fight scene in Goldeneye when I got this notification
They should open a GoFundMe to repair it. I'll chip in a bit.
It's sad that things like this require public funding while our government spends several hundreds of trillions on weapons of war and death. I'd pitch in too though!
@@matthewreynolds8068 It's called protecting you and keeping your capitalistic lifestyle going.
@@anarchyantz1564 Fair enough, we do need security. Call me a utopian, but I want to believe one day the threat of death and pain won't be nessecary to be seen as powerful, and instead we will work together to expand our species into the stars!
Honestly, it sounds like a good idea to cut out the middle man. The gov isn't that great at distributing money to people who'd actually make good use of it.
@@anarchyantz1564 Protecting you from afghan farmers?
Arecibo Observatory was also used in several SETI projects.
Wow. Cannot believe this piece of history is actually destroyed. What a way to start the final month of 2020...
Scott, this was one of your best videos. Amazing. I listened to any any single second.
We successfully prevented them from intercepting a message from our alien space base.
Didn't get by me. I was wearing my aluminum foil hat. I'm on to you...
I was just thinking this is the kind of thing you'd see as a fake news clip in the opening credits of an asteroid or alien invasion movie: "The Arecibo Telescope was damaged today..." Next up is unexplained power failures in major cities.
Everyone thinks the hats only purpose is to keep "them" from reading your mind. But it's other purpose is to intercept signals of this nature as well. I could teach you a thing or two.
Regarding the ionospheric research motivation to have Arecibo built:
The math was correct if you neglect collective effects between electrons and ions (so-called incoherent scatter, or non-collective Thomson scatter). The insight gained by subsequent experimentation (and the antenna used for this was massive, just not as big as Arecibo) was that if you use a wavelength larger than the Debye length of the plasma, you see the ion motion embedded in the electron scatter (collective Thomson scatter) and the received power is concentrated into 10s of kHz of bandwidth instead of MHzs of bandwidth for non-collective scatter. More power in less bandwidth means the signal to noise ratio is higher, so you need a less sensitive system.
Bill Gordon and others did a lot of fantastic work. It wasn't a mistake in his math, but a discovery by others as part of the scientific process.
Scott, I'm a fellow space enthusiast and work with incoherent scatter radars. If you ever want to chat about them let me know!
Arecibo pings the ISS... "Sir do you know you were doing 17,130 mph in a 50 zone?".
If something did 50, it would just fall to earth.
@@xploration1437 dude, if Arecibo pinged the ISS, it'd be a microcosm of Minbari First Contact from Babylon 5!
@@seand.g423 RIP Dukhat.
I mean, I was talking about the ISS needing new comms, but... let's be honest, that whole clusterfuck was just human nature, mixed with the Minbari being the Vorlons' most flagrant puppets being Minbari.
Always glad to see your updates and learn more. Thank you
My wife and I ended up taking a cruise that boarded in Puerto Rico. They had "shore excursions" you could take, and I insisted on the trip to Arecibo to see this thing in person. You can't even imagine the scale of this thing until you stand near it and gaze upon it with your own eyeballs. I was standing in the observation area on the rim of the reflector, admiring the feed suspended in the air. And while looking at it, I saw these small little green things sorta bolted on the side. And then I realized those little green things were large HVAC chillers, like you'd find on the roof of a data center! That really helped calibrate the scale for me. That feed suspended out there is essentially a multi-story high building suspended on cables!
The guy doing the tour noted that there's very active management of those cables that are on large reels. As the temperature changes, of course the dimensions of those steel cables also change and they have to reel cable in and out to keep the feed in the correct position.
There's also a number of stories where the transmitting capability of this antenna was used to recover spacecraft. I think I remember reading about one amateur radio satellite where there were two conflicting modes - the transmitter in one mode could be on the same band as a command receiver or something, and the transmitter would desense that receiver, and normal commanding wouldn't work because of this. The solution? MORE POWER. Put a kiilowatt transmitter on a zillion dB (well, what, maybe 30db? I dunno) antenna and just brute force your way into the receiver.
I think it was also used by the group to try to recover that one spacecraft that was in solar orbit, and where NASA no longer had the equipment to transmit commands to it. Some SDR hacking later + lots of dB of antenna gain -- got them much of the way there.
What an amazing resource for the US, and a shame we can't invest the relatively tiny amount of $$$ to keep it operating. When I had visited, I believe at that time much of the funding was via the NSF, with Cornell as the "operator" of the facility. I sure how we can find a way to support this literally one-of-a-kind resource for the future.
Space force satellite: *pings the ground*
Arecibo: *pings satellite*
Satellite’s sensors: *visibly dies*
Space force satellite: wait, that's illegal
that ping to the satelite its like a shot from the death stars main gun. :D
I was curious as well if they need to be careful not to blast asteroid-mapping levels of radar energy out while there are satellites passing above.
@@tomast9034 kind of looks like it now that you mention it.
@@HossBlacksilver my first was ....one ping only Vasilij, just one....
6:50 Chris Hadfield: "I can hear your voices bouncing off the moon!"
The treasure of Canada:The great Chris Hadfield.
Scott here, trolling the flat-earthers by talking about a spherical reflector being made of flat panels.
Scott, thanks for including inches and feet to what was germane to the story. It kept the story tempo moving and engagement with you sharing your story. Thanks for including me in sharing this interesting story
Pressing F for the Arecibo Observatory. It has been decided that the observatory is to be decommissioned.
We watched a documentary on this telescope on laser disc in the early ‘90s in middle school.
Ah nice the good ol Laser Disc, a technology both too early and too late
" I got a security problem here. This guy, he shouldn't be there, i know him."
Why build one, when you can build two for twice the price?
I suppose we have Contact....
I'm Okay To Go!!
RIGHT ASCENSION! 18 HOURS, 36 MINUTES, 56.2 SECONDS!!!!
Baby steps Sparks, baby steps
I sincerely hope that they get the Aercibo Observatory up and running again soon.
considering its completely destroy because it wasnt even funded enough to keep in shape, I doubt theres any money to rebuild it
@@Nordic_Mechanic We can hope though.
Awesome video. Great work, Scott. Thank you!
Scott; Back in the late 70's I was in Puerto Rico (Navy) and 4 of us biked across the island from San Juan to Ponce. We decided to ride across the north coast and stop at Arecibo. When we arrived we found the obligatory locked gate and signs warning anyone to keep out. While we stood there debating whether to move on, a car came down the road and we moved aside. The man in the car asked what we were doing? We just wanted to take a look at the telescope. He said sure and we followed him into the site. We got to walk under the dish. It was interesting and we got to see the control room. We thanked him profusely and rode back and finished our trip, then returned to San Juan by bus. Still remember looking at the dish in awe.
I'm surprised that the Russians didn't come up with this idea.
"Small telescope don't work? Just build huge one!"
Well they did build RATAN-600.
Probably because Russia has been know for creating radio interference. See OTH radar and the Russian Woodpecker.
Telescope build you
The Russians would've bolted engines on it until they made it fly.
"As you may have heard..." Nope, I don't hear about stuff like this until I hear it from Scott Manley.
That thing looks terrible! It’s no wonder it’s falling apart. Looks like it’s never had a cleaning or repair ever!
Oh and i reallyyy like that you are explaining the things without using the most complicated words you could find
I live here in Puerto Rico, though in another city East of Arecibo. Thank you for talking about the incident of the telescope.
I hope repairs are made swiftly and scientific research may resume.
IS IT EARTH QUAKE ZONE ?
We need more from Scott Manley. ✌🏻
Keep up the great work. Please make a video on what it would take to terraform Mars. It will be great to get your views on it.
“Hello, Scott Manley here”, is only beaten by - and just barely - Sean Connery, when he says “Bond... James Bond”
In this precise case, Pierce Brosnan's James Bond would seem more appropriate 😜
Both are manly Scots.
Trench Sylvia Trench
I live 40 minutes from this radio telescope and it’s really sad but it will be fix soon
Wepa!
This not age well
30 years ago, I was working with a man who had worked on the construction of the Arecibo Radio Telescope. I remember looking through his photo album, and I wish I had a few of them to share now. Before the current dish that we know today, there was a grid of wires that covered pretty much the same footprint. My friend told me that before they could build the dish we know today, they had to clear the vegetation from the valley, and that it was infested with snakes.
One thing: the broken cable was part of the 1990s upgrade, so it is one of the six (of 18) newest cables. I am glad you presented the damage to the Gregorian dome. This is likely the most serious damage, and that is because we are approaching peak hurricane season, and a storm like the 2017 Maria or 1998 Georges may very likely destroy the Gregorian. Those triangular panels of the geodesic shell protect the subreflectors and receiver/transmitter instruments inside. The 1990s upgrade was a $30M investment by the American people, and we all stand with UCF and the top flight staff at Arecibo as the work tirelessly to repair this damage.
As a Puerto Rican myself I believe this happened due to lack of handling😕, but! I believe it will be repaired soon and it be all right! I hope
Esto fue hace dias y aqui dice 3 meses
@@imabigbadgirl1273 mira el observatorio tuvo daños hace tres meses antes🤣
Busca información pana
@@giornogiovanna5965 si, es que no vivo ya en PR y ni cuenta me dí
Scott, first, thanks for all the great content.
Regarding the Spelter Socket and potential failure mode of the cable, suggest you take a look at a video posted today on LinkedIn by Herbert Weischedel
.
This makes it clear how a cable could deteriorate to an extent that causes it to fail without exhibiting many of the 'telltale' characteristics one looks for.
Being on site, anyone with a reasonable amount of experience working with cables of this nature would be able to state with a degree of confidence if this were a 'pull through' event or corrosion at the scoket.
Just heard that they announced that the damage is too dangerous to repair and it is going to be decommissioned. ☹️
well... it certainly is now. The *entire thing* collapsed.
1:15 "Thankfully engineers are smart and they have redundant cables". They just didn't add enough.
I have no idea what this guy is talking about but I love the passion in which he speaks about this subject
Who else watched Szyzyg's MacBookPro bounce around? I love Scott Manley.
No one:
The BF4 player with a SRAW: haha missile go BOOM
do you know that on 1. December it will collapse and destroy everything
@@LukaArtelj I didn't know what you meant until 5mins ago when I found a article on it. So no, I did not know. Thank You
Good treatment..! I visited back in the 70's, when you could wander into the control room if you were clever. And, again in this century after the Gregorian upgrade, and the very nice visitor center were added. As an RF tinkerer, this place is a temple of the Gods..! KC6UPS
I did a tour just over a year ago, and got to walk through the control room then.
Thing was probably just fine but then 2020’s bad luck got to it
Ah, someone was trying to get the T-Rex Easter egg
😂😂
My school the University of Central Florida manages this telescope. Go Knights!
Thanks for reporting in it. Don't worry guys, the search for extraterrestrials won't stop! We have the FAST radiotelescope and soon we will have the Square Kilometer Array, able to detect alien airports 200 light years away (according to its engineers).
As a physicist am interested: which kind of realistic signal would be able to be seen from 200 my away?
Battlefield 4 time
Literally looking at some of my favorite camping spots, hehehe.
"Damages", the damn thing is completely destroyed.
Having lived in PR, I can tell you that the lovely trade winds also bring in the salty sea breeze.. I would be surprised if corrosion wasn't a factor.
These days they use epoxy, not metal. But yes, that is a peltor socket.
are you sure it isn't a spelter socket?
@@rogeramjet100
I don't think Scott would use a proprietary and particularly specialized bonding consumer name for a generic potting epoxy. He'd simply say 'epoxy'.
The company in question that did the Arecibo cables is Muncy, and they still use zinc for those sockets. muncyindustries . com/Catalog/socketing-zinc.php
I've never seen cables that large use epoxy, doesn't mean none have but I have seen cables that large replaced in the last year and they were done with zinc.
I'm quite certain its penis socket.
Same Pelton as the Pelton water wheel?
I believe this was due to a conflict between a 007 and a 006
I grew up playing GoldenEye 007 on the N64.
When I heard "1000 foot wide" my immediate thought was "blimey, that's as wide as the Enterprise (1701 refit) is long...
You know sir, I respect that you know your stuff and that you do not read a script from a teleprompter.
Hope it can eventually be repaired and sorted out
Same, but they need to get on it quickly
When I heard this I said to myself.. battlefield 4 was the future
And for some FU$&ING reason Battlefield 4 accurately predicted the future...
Don’t worry, that was just PonyLion rendewhipping a jet with the construction cables
Holy shit. Battlefield did a Simpsons.
Did everyone forget about Golden Eye?
“Really old thing falls apart” - what a prediction.
I heard the lead researcher for the double pulsar discovery speak.
He came to Princeton University as a guest speaker at the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton about 20 years ago.
I was a member for a couple years. That night I brought 2 engineers from work to hear the lecture.
Yes... They did win a Nobel for that work.
That was the only time I saw Peyton Hall filled to standing room only.
Great episode! Many thanks for the wonderful background plus operational details. I've always found this structure fascinating. Cheers.
Who's been planting C4 on the anchors then?
007
The Chinese communist party
So who jet rammed into the towers on rogue?!?! >:(
😭😭😭
Man this is so sad. The telescope was a big part of Puertorrican tourism and now that its going to be demolished I feel like we've lost a national treasure. 🙁
This is my favorite telescope and as a SETI@Home member, I want to be first in line to donate to its rehabilitation!
If they're all the originally installed cables, then a failure like that will require every last cable to be replaced. If they were all installed and made to measure at the same time, its possible they will fail at similar times also.