Well this is a huge bummer. I knew it was damaged a month or two ago, but it's hard to fathom that the entire thing will need to be demolished. RIP to an iconic piece of scientific equipment.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Following engineering assessments concluding damage to Arecibo Observatory cannot be addressed without endangering the lives and safety of crew and staff, NSF plans to decommission the 305-meter telescope: <a href="https://t.co/En0S7OOhY4">https://t.co/En0S7OOhY4</a> <a href="https://t.co/bB70XNud0v">pic.twitter.com/bB70XNud0v</a></p>&mdash; National Science Foundation (@NSF) <a href="https://twitter.com/NSF/status/1329462672627277829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

We'll have to find another way to talk to them, I guess.

WTH happened to it?

A hurricane and two earthquakes.

Guess that would do it. Thanks.

The initial issue was that a giant (like 4" diameter) cable pulled loose, and in the fall it took out a big chunk of the dish below. More recently, the increased loads took out another cable, and the troubling part is that that cable gave out well under its expected loads.

So now they're nervous about all of the other cables, and they're afraid that, if another one goes, the loads on the rest will be too much and the entire thing will fail catastrophically. And when you're nervous about a giant piece of equipment failing catastrophically, you don't put workers in areas where such a failure would almost certainly be fatal.

So here we are. I'm sure that, with enough money, they could fix it. But it's been underfunded for years now, and it sounds like it's just too risky to try and fix it.

Contact Karen carpenter

Thank you

I hope they can build it back even bigger and more precise.

And no more movie Ops....

Starlink launch is bumped again to tomorrow fwiw. I'll probably stop providing updates on it aside from a bump closer to launch.

Looks like they might try another SN8 three Raptor static fire today:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a_-Wu_S2qTA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I tried to stick with it but there just doesn't appear to be any timeline for anything and the chit-chat got a lot redundant and silly. "If I stowaway......?" LMAO

Yeah, they have no idea. This is just all based on activity seen during prior tests. Keeping in a small corner of one screen and checking the "check list" occasionally. I keep the feed muted and ignore the chat. I mostly can't stand the people narrating these things.

Did you guys know that one of the abort modes for the shuttle was RTLS, basically the same thing as a Falcon 9 boost back maneuver? I had no idea:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XgQqbb-IssM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>