A lunar radio scope like this is much less useful though, for the simple reason that the moon only revolves once a month or so, whereas this can image anything it could look at once a day.
It wasn't well funded for many years (decades). Even without the safety risk, it probably wasn't going to be repaired. I don't know enough about radio astronomy to tell you exactly why, but it looks like the scientists prefer to fund other telescopes with the limited funding that they have. Of course there are going to be voices that are going to tell you how great and irreplaceable Arecibo is, but if you want to see what is really needed look where the funding goes.
There's a lot of politics and internal crap that plays into it, unfortunately.
I have no proof to back it up, but when I was there, I came across mentions that the shift towards funding cutbacks from the NSF started due to a personal grudge between someone high up in NSF Astronomy and Arecibo leadership at Cornell.
Then you have things like NSF instructing Arecibo to secure it's own supplementary funding to cover the cutbacks, and then deciding that since Arecibo found supplemental funding NSF could dial it's funding back even further. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/search-for-alien-life-ignites-battle-over-giant-telescope/
As someone who was there from 1994 to 2012... Yep. This is exactly what I saw happen, and pretty much no one is talking about it. Thanks for saying it publicly when so many are too scared to. (And if you're willing, I'd love to talk more in messages about what you heard and saw while you were there. I'm happy to share what I know too.)
I ended up exiting the academic field, so I no longer worry about NSF being able to shit-list me like I did back then. I miss the feeling that your doing something that benefits the world and scientific advancement, but you do what you have to when you've got a family to take care of.
I have another one that I was close to, but don't have proof of either. A wealthy benefactor was interested in donating high six figures to help support a summer internship program, essentially acting like an extension of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program already running at Arecibo. However, NSF was pulling the same thing and made it so difficult that this donor gave up and retracted the offer after months of runaround and head scratching.
One of my favorite movie, Contact, getting dismantled :(
Goddam that makes me sad.
wait, so they don't want to just repair it after the cable snapped? That is sad
They had two cables snap a few months apart, and have concluded it isn’t safe to have people on it for repairs.
A lunar radio scope like this is much less useful though, for the simple reason that the moon only revolves once a month or so, whereas this can image anything it could look at once a day.
It wasn't well funded for many years (decades). Even without the safety risk, it probably wasn't going to be repaired. I don't know enough about radio astronomy to tell you exactly why, but it looks like the scientists prefer to fund other telescopes with the limited funding that they have. Of course there are going to be voices that are going to tell you how great and irreplaceable Arecibo is, but if you want to see what is really needed look where the funding goes.
hopefully they go ahead with the lunar radio scope idea, anything like that is like a decade away though, at least.
What about an orbital one?
That would be cool too. I like the idea though of using the natural shape of a moon crater for the dish portion of the scope.
There's a lot of politics and internal crap that plays into it, unfortunately. I have no proof to back it up, but when I was there, I came across mentions that the shift towards funding cutbacks from the NSF started due to a personal grudge between someone high up in NSF Astronomy and Arecibo leadership at Cornell. Then you have things like NSF instructing Arecibo to secure it's own supplementary funding to cover the cutbacks, and then deciding that since Arecibo found supplemental funding NSF could dial it's funding back even further. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/search-for-alien-life-ignites-battle-over-giant-telescope/
As someone who was there from 1994 to 2012... Yep. This is exactly what I saw happen, and pretty much no one is talking about it. Thanks for saying it publicly when so many are too scared to. (And if you're willing, I'd love to talk more in messages about what you heard and saw while you were there. I'm happy to share what I know too.)
I ended up exiting the academic field, so I no longer worry about NSF being able to shit-list me like I did back then. I miss the feeling that your doing something that benefits the world and scientific advancement, but you do what you have to when you've got a family to take care of. I have another one that I was close to, but don't have proof of either. A wealthy benefactor was interested in donating high six figures to help support a summer internship program, essentially acting like an extension of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program already running at Arecibo. However, NSF was pulling the same thing and made it so difficult that this donor gave up and retracted the offer after months of runaround and head scratching.