[ad_1]
For the second time in just a few months, a cable accident occurred at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, causing even more damage to one of the largest and most powerful radio telescopes in the world.
In August, both astronomers and science lovers were horrified to see a giant hole ripped open by the structure’s massive reflector dish, the result of a broken auxiliary cable that fell and crashed into the structure, leaving a nasty gash. Length 30 meters (100 feet). .
Over the following months, the observatory’s engineers and workers prepared for complex repair work, with work initially scheduled to begin this week. Unfortunately, a second cable failure on Friday evening, local time, further complicated the situation.
“It’s certainly not what we wanted to see, but the important thing is that no one is injured,” he added. says the director of the observatory Francisco Córdova.
“We were careful in our assessment and prioritized safety in planning the repairs that were due to start on Tuesday. Now this “.
The Arecibo Observatory in 2019, before this year’s incidents. (UCF)
According to the University of Central Florida (UCF), which runs the Arecibo Observatory on behalf of the National Science Foundation, the second cable incident appears to be related to the first.
Both cables were connected to the same support tower and the second outage could have been caused by additional stress after the first failure.
Observers at the facility had been monitoring all cables since the August incident and noticed that the cables had broken in the cable that broke last week, presumably due to wear and tear on the additional load. Unfortunately, before the reclamation stops could be mounted, the second cable also gave way, falling on the plate, causing further damage and also damaging the neighboring cables.
By working with engineers to assess the situation, UCF is accelerating the ongoing repair plan, with the goal of reducing stress on the remaining cables as quickly as possible. Two new cables are already on their way to the observatory and the team will continue to evaluate the structure pending the arrival of the pieces.
“There is a lot of uncertainty until we are able to stabilize the structure,” says Córdoba. “You have our full attention. We are evaluating the situation with our experts and hope to have more content to share soon. “
What makes the entire repair and fortification project even more challenging is the age of Arecibo – the historic structure was built in the 1960s and held the title of the world’s largest single aperture radio telescope for over half a century, until it was replaced by the Chinese one. Even more gigantic Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), which began its test phase in 2016 and reached full operation in January.
During its long-term service, the Arecibo facility has reached dozens of astronomical milestones, observing and recording new scientific measurements of distant exoplanets, asteroids, pulsars, radio emissions and molecules in distant galaxies.
The observatory was also at the forefront of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and was the transmitter of the Arecibo message, a pioneering attempt in 1974 to transmit an interstellar radio signal.
It may have been overshadowed by FAST in terms of size, but the Arecibo Observatory is still expected to have decades of discovery, but only if its serious and seemingly growing structural problems can be solved.
“That’s not good, but we’re committed to getting the facility back online.” Cordoba says. “It is too important a tool for the advancement of science.”
This is certainly true, but for an older structure that has been in operation since before humanity visited the Moon, it is difficult to know for sure how severe the damage is and how much the structure will eventually be fortified or repairable, and much less if other short-term incidents occur.
We hope for a positive result and that emergency measures can stabilize this pillar of 20th century astronomy. But even before these recent cable outages, the observatory was still receiving repairs for damage caused by Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” said radio astronomer Joanna Rankin of the University of Vermont. Sciences. “This is very serious.”
Source link
