Arecibo Status

[HAB911]

Orig post 8/22 via Setiathome

I just got this note relayed to me via a former co-worker who spent a great deal of time at Arecibo. The news is not good:

> ---- I just talked to Angel on Ham Radio (14.260 MHz) and have some
> more of the latest news.
> He was only on for a short time since his generator was acting up and
> he had to quit.
>
> The news is not good unfortunately.
>
> The 430 MHz 96 foot long line feed antenna broke off and landed into
> the dish and put in many holes in the dish as you can imagine. That
> is the antenna that was in the movie Golden Eye where there was
> fighting down the line feed. This was also the antenna that I was
> part of a team that used it for moonbounce a few years ago with the
> call KP4AO. It was a very important and historic antenna feed for the
> dish since the beginnings of the Observatory. It had a 2.5 million
> watt radar connected to it.
>
> This is clearly very devastating news to the Observatory.
>
> Also, the 12m dish was destroyed too. It is down.
>
> That is all we know up to now since Angel had to get off quickly and
> we could not get any further information.
>
> We were hoping to hear about the new HF Facility dipole antenna array
> too but he left before we could get any further info.
>
> That is all I have for now for the Observatory and it is very terrible news.
>
> The other bad news is that my contest station about 1 mile or so from
> the Observatory and on the highest hill in the area there was
> destroyed and the tower and antennas went down. That is very sad for
> me but it just means I will have to re-build it bigger and better.
>
> I will make sure to get any further news as it comes in.
>
> Thanks, Jim

If I get any additional information I'll relay it to you. I wish that I had better news to report... -Allen

SNIP



Last Post Update 10/4

The workers and families weathered the Hurricane in the structures at the array. The antenna was damaged with a boom falling from the supported antenna structure to the panels below mangling the boom and damaging several reflector panels. The Onion enclosure remains secure although it is feared that antennas within will need realignment as they did in previous high wind event hurricanes. The suspension rigging was not damaged and is being examined to insure site and worker safety.

Costs are not yet determined as damages still need assessment and replacement repair price breakouts calculated.

Arecibo remains difficult to access due to many downed trees, road washouts, and mudslides. Power is running on generators with conservation of diesel being exercised.

The above was gleaned from a news report and interview with the Director of the site.

[NNadir]

1. That's terrible news, particularly since we're...

...ruled by a political party whose contempt for science knows no bounds.

[longship]

2. This, on top of talk of closing down Arecibo.

We don't need no steeking big science in the USA!!!

And the Thirty Meter Telescope might not be built in Hawaii because of volcano gods!

Bah!!! Blinkered ignorance!!!

[HAB911]

3. Hurricane damage threatens Arecibo Observatorys future

As Hurricane Maria hammered the Caribbean last week, a handful of researchers hunkered down in concrete buildings at the Arecibo Observatory with food, well water, and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel for generators. They had done their best to secure the observatory, a 305-meter-wide radio dish nestled in the karst hills of northwestern Puerto Rico. They stowed removable antennas and waveguides, locked movable instrument packages in place, and installed storm shutters on control room windows. Now, they have emerged to find only moderate damage to the observatory, on an island that has been devastated elsewhere. “It’s a thing to be thankful for,” says Arecibo Deputy Director Joan Schmelz.

But many are worried that the damage, likely on the scale of millions of dollars and apt to keep the observatory closed for weeks or months, will further threaten the existence of Arecibo, which is already on a short list of facilities facing possible closure or downsizing by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, Virginia. “I fear that if there is significant damage, that will provide the decision point to decommission the observatory,” says space scientist John Mathews of Pennsylvania State University in State College.

The surface of the dish was largely unscathed, and the observatory’s most vulnerable component, the instrument platform suspended high above the dish by cables strung from three towers, each more than 80 meters tall, was still in place and seemed undamaged, says Schmelz. She is based at the Columbia, Maryland, headquarters of one of Arecibo’s operators, the Universities Space Research Association, and spoke with staff in Puerto Rico who first used a ham radio and then a single working satellite phone. But the roofs on some observatory buildings were blown off, the sinkhole under the dish was flooded, and other equipment was damaged by rain and fallen trees. Most significantly, a large portion of a 29-meter-long antenna—the 430-megahertz line feed used for studying the upper atmosphere—appears to have broken off and fallen from the platform into the dish. Mathews estimates a bill of several million dollars to replace the line feed alone.

The rest of Puerto Rico has fared worse. Winds and widespread flooding destroyed 80% of homes and other buildings in some areas and took a similar toll on the island’s agriculture. The electricity grid was destroyed—and may not be restored for months—and almost all cellphone towers were downed. The Guajataca Dam, which impounds a 4-kilometer-long lake, was declared unsafe, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is now flying in supplies, but with limited food, water, and infrastructure the situation is looking increasingly dire.




http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/hurricane-damage-threatens-arecibo-observatory-s-future