University of Central Florida

Telescope Used to Look for Alien Life Has Completely Collapsed

December 14, 2020
ExoNews Editor

December 1, 2020 (fox2now.com)

• Last month, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico would be permanently closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide dish (pictured above), damaging the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in mid-November.

• The huge radio telescope that played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century (and was used by SETI – the ‘Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’ as seen in the 1997 movie “Contact”) completely collapsed on December 1st. The telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below. (see 1:38 minute video below) It had endured hurricanes, tropical humidity and a recent string of earthquakes in its 57 years of operation.

• “It sounded like a rumble. I knew exactly what it was,” said Jonathan Friedman, who worked for 26 years as a senior research associate at the observatory. “I was screaming. Personally, I was out of control…. I don’t have words to express it. It’s a very deep, terrible feeling.” When Friedman reached the dish, a cloud of dust hung in the air where the structure once stood, dashing hopes held by some scientists that the telescope could somehow be repaired.

• Scientists worldwide had petitioned US officials to reverse the NSF’s decision to close the observatory. The NSF said at the time that it intended to eventually reopen the visitor center and restore operations at the observatory’s remaining assets, including its two LIDAR facilities used for upper atmospheric and ionospheric research, analyzing cloud cover and precipitation data.

• “I am one of those students who visited it when young and got inspired,” said Abel Méndez, a physics and astrobiology professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. “The world without the observatory loses, but Puerto Rico loses even more.” Méndez last used the telescope on August 6th, just days before a socket holding the auxiliary cable snapped in what experts believe could be a manufacturing error.

• About 250 scientists worldwide had been using the observatory when it closed in August, including Méndez, who was studying stars to detect habitable planets. The NSF, which owns the observatory (managed by the University of Central Florida), said crews who evaluated the structure after the first incident determined that the remaining cables could handle the additional weight. But on November 6th, another cable broke.

MYSTERY WIRE (SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — A huge, already damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century completely collapsed on Tuesday.

The telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below.

The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed.

An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

The collapse stunned many scientists who had relied on what was until recently the largest radio telescope in the world.

“It sounded like a rumble. I knew exactly what it was,” said Jonathan Friedman, who worked for 26 years as a senior research associate at the observatory and still lives near it. “I was screaming. Personally, I was out of control…. I don’t have words to express it. It’s a very deep, terrible feeling.”

Friedman ran up a small hill near his home and confirmed his suspicions: A cloud of dust hung in the air where the structure once stood, demolishing hopes held by some scientists that the telescope could somehow be repaired.

“It’s a huge loss,” said Carmen Pantoja, an astronomer and professor at the University of Puerto Rico who used the telescope for her doctorate. “It was a chapter of my life.”

1:38 minute video of the Aricibo collapse on December 1st (‘ABC News’ YouTube)

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More Damage at Arecibo Alien-Hunting Facility

November 21, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Vistor Tangermann November 9, 2020 (futurism.com)

• A second cable has fallen, crushing the intricate reflector dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. A first auxiliary cable failed on August 10th, crushing a portion of the dish and resulting in a significant setback for the observatory. The massive dish was mainly used by SETI to hunt for extraterrestrial life. But research had to be put on pause for several months following the August event.

• Now, a main cable connected to the same support tower as the auxiliary cable failed this week, causing additional damage to both the dish and other nearby cables, according to a statement by the University of Central Florida, which co-manages the facility.

• Officials suspect the break may have been caused by the extra load the cables had to carry since the first cable failure. “This is certainly not what we wanted to see, but the important thing is that no one got hurt,” said observatory director Francisco Cordova. “We have been thoughtful in our evaluation and prioritized safety in planning for repairs that were supposed to begin Tuesday. Now this.”

• Engineers are hoping to support the structure with steel reinforcements to alleviate some of the additional load. Two replacement cables are already on their way to the observatory. The aging Arecibo radio telescope dates back to the early 1960s and has been in operation for over half a century. The reflector dish alone is 1,000 feet in diameter and is composed of 38,778 perforated aluminum panels.

More bad news for the alien-hunting Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. A second cable has fallen, crushing the intricate reflector dish below.

A first auxiliary cable failed over the massive dish on August 10, crushing a portion of the dish and representing a significant setback for the observatory.

The dish was mainly used to hunt for extraterrestrial life — but research had to be put on pause for several months following the event.

Compounding the problem, a main cable — which was connected to the same support tower as the auxiliary cable — failed this week, causing additional damage to both the dish and other nearby cables, according to a statement by the University of Central Florida, which co-manages the facility.

Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Extra Load

The cause of the break has yet to be identified. Officials suspect it may have been caused by the extra load the cables had to carry since the first cable failure.

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Telescope Used in Search for Extraterrestrial Life Badly Damaged in Freak Accident

August 26, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Dan Satherley August 16, 2020 (newshub.co.nz)

• Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory is one of the world’s largest telescopes, and was featured in the 1997 Jodie Foster film ‘Contact’ and 1995’s Bond classic ‘Goldeneye’. As depicted in the movies, the observatory was often employed in the search for extraterrestrials.

• Earlier in August, the University of Central Florida – which operates the facility – says a metal cable snapped, tearing a 30m-long gash in the dish. (pictured above) The damage was so extensive, it smashed through several other cables and platforms that support the dish, causing debris to rain down on the ground below and making it harder for technicians to access the site.

• “We have a team of experts assessing the situation,” Arecibo director Francisco Cordova said. “Our focus is assuring the safety of our staff, protecting the facilities and equipment and restoring the facility to full operations as soon as possible, so it can continue to assist scientists around the world.”

• Arecibo has been a key part of the international SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) program, used to not only look for signals from outer space, but send them as well. The telescope is also a key part of Earth’s defense against incoming asteroids and comets that could potentially threaten life on Earth.

One of the world’s largest telescopes, used to look for extraterrestrial life, has been badly damaged in a freak accident.

Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory is about three rugby fields wide, and featured in the 1997 Jodie Foster film Contact and 1995’s Bond classic Goldeneye.

The University of Central Florida – which operates the facility – says a metal cable snapped last week, tearing a 30m-long gash in the dish.
“We have a team of experts assessing the situation,” Arecibo director Francisco Cordova said.

“Our focus is assuring the safety of our staff, protecting the facilities and equipment and restoring the facility to full operations as soon as possible, so it can continue to assist scientists around the world.”

LiveScience reports the damage was so extensive, it “smashed through several other cables and platforms that support the dish, causing debris to rain down on the ground below and making it harder for technicians to access the site”.

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Research Laying Groundwork For Off-World Colonies

March 17, 2019
ExoNews Editor

March 4, 2019 (sciencedaily.com)

• The University of Central Florida’s Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science’s Exolith Lab creates simulated extraterrestrial surface material, ranging from lunar soil to Martian dirt, in order to lay the “groundwork” (pun intended) for establishing off-world colonies. Their most recent study is on asteroid surfaces, which Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF and lead author of the study, published in the journal Icarus.

• The wealth management company Morgan Stanley estimates that the space economy will be worth more than $1.1 trillion by 2040. Metzger believes that by the end of the century there will be more economic activity off planet Earth than on planet Earth. “With economics moving in that direction, it’s important for us to get a head start trying to create the regulatory and engineering environments to make sure everything is done safely and justly,” Metzger says.

• The team measured meteorites’ (as reference material) mineralogical composition; elemental composition; densities of rocks and crushed rocks known as regolith; mechanical strength; magnetic susceptibility; volatile release pattern; and particle size destruction. This standardization is highly needed, Metzger said, as previous attempts at creating simulated extraterrestrial surface material have used everything from floral foam to beach sand. If tests are performed on simulant that isn’t similar to the real thing or is not suited for that test, then it makes the test results invalid.

• The team achieved a “high-fidelity simulant”, which “will be very valuable for companies doing asteroid mining, doing tests of constructions of facilities and landing pads, metal extraction and more,” says Metzger. The studies’ co-author, Dan Britt added, “I think we did a good job of producing a simulant that mimics the parent asteroidal material pretty well.”

• Metzger said the research team will continue to grade simulants created in the Exolith Lab as well as offer their grading system to simulants created in other labs. They will also be receiving feedback from the community about improvements in the grading system and will work with the American Society of Civil Engineers for consensus on having the grading standards adopted.

• [Editor’s Note] They’re right about there being more economic activity off-planet than on the Earth by the end of the century. Because this is already true. According to Corey Goode, the largest and most technologically advanced secret space program is the interplanetary Corporate Conglomerate (ICC), which is made up by dozens of mega-rich, multi-national corporations on Earth that have established at least fifteen work colonies on Mars, and who know where else, to manufacture unique technology-based goods, and is conducting ongoing trade with at least nine hundred extraterrestrial species throughout the galaxy.

University of Central Florida researchers are already laying the groundwork for the off-world jump by creating standards for extraterrestrial surfaces. Their work was detailed recently in a study published in the journal Icarus.

“I’m firmly convinced that by the end of the century there will be more economic activity off planet Earth than on planet Earth,” says Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF and lead author of the study.

According to the wealth management company, Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy will be worth more than $1.1 trillion by 2040.

“With economics moving in that direction, it’s important for us to get a head start trying to create the regulatory and engineering environments to make sure everything is done safely and justly,” Metzger says.

In the study, Metzger and the team of researchers outlined standards for simulated extraterrestrial surface material and then applied the standards to a simulated extraterrestrial surface material created in the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science’s Exolith Lab housed at UCF.

While extraterrestrial surface material can range from lunar soil to Martian dirt, Metzger and the researchers created standards specifically for asteroid surfaces in this study.

The team measured mineralogical composition; elemental composition; densities of rocks and crushed rocks known as regolith; mechanical strength; magnetic susceptibility; volatile release pattern; and particle size destruction.

This standardization is highly needed, Metzger said, as previous attempts at creating simulated extraterrestrial surface material have used everything from floral foam to beach sand.

If tests are performed on simulant that isn’t similar to the real thing or is not suited for that test, then it makes the test results invalid, Metzger said.

“We have to communicate what the properties are so everyone knows its limitations so they won’t use it for a test it wasn’t designed to simulate,” Metzger said.

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Tag: University of Central Florida

Telescope Used to Look for Alien Life Has Completely Collapsed

More Damage at Arecibo Alien-Hunting Facility

Telescope Used in Search for Extraterrestrial Life Badly Damaged in Freak Accident

Research Laying Groundwork For Off-World Colonies