I was there 10 years ago. I have some video and photos from the observatory. Was pretty awesome place to visit. One of a kind in the wold. But even back then some of the panels looked damaged.
Hard to imagine that an observatory of such scientific importance, would be neglected and allowed to rust away until cable break.
Trump Created The Space Force, and bragged about how much money he gave Puerto Rico after the hurricane. Large projects like this need ongoing government funding. So I'm surprised more was not done to prevent this.
Similar things happened during collapse of the USSR. Major scientific projects just got left behind to rust.
I know that China built a new larger radio telescope, but this one could send out messages.
The observatory helped us map planets, find pulsars, track asteroids, and send messages to aliens.
>Similar things happened during collapse of the USSR. Major scientific projects just got left behind to rust.
It's fascinating to think about it. Some projects like advanced rocket engines were salvaged by people who care and other projects like the Buran shuttle were left to rot and destroyed by petty stuff like rooftop collapse.
At the end though, maybe it's just a natural selection process. Arguably, saving the Buran might have turned into an expensive mistake considering the fate of US shuttle program.
Unfortunately termination of the Buran project also led to discontinuation of the Energia rocket [0]. It was quite a marvelous rocket and could've been used without Buran in the Polyus configuration. And in the late 80s there was even a modification in development with airplane-like reusable boosters.
The initial impetus for the Buran was a desire to match capabilities with the US. Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that a rocket meant for such a political purpose fell to the wayside after the fall of the Soviet system.
Saving vs Preserving: These important historical scientific devices might be fun to view later. It is interesting to think about these MASSIVE aerospace museums with hundreds of planes, like one out in Tucson, AZ. Just hangars and hangars of historical planes, with a few historically interested visitors. How much preservation is the right amount?
Hard to imagine that an observatory of such scientific importance, would be neglected and allowed to rust away until cable break.
Trump Created The Space Force, and bragged about how much money he gave Puerto Rico after the hurricane. Large projects like this need ongoing government funding. So I'm surprised more was not done to prevent this.
Similar things happened during collapse of the USSR. Major scientific projects just got left behind to rust.
I know that China built a new larger radio telescope, but this one could send out messages.
The observatory helped us map planets, find pulsars, track asteroids, and send messages to aliens.
Arecibo message https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_message#Numbers