That drone footage is the most impressive thing I've seen all month. Talk about being in the right place at the right time, engineering students will be forced to watch that footage for decades to come.
All month. 😊 It's only the 4th. Did you see Scott's music video last month? Well worth a watch: *SpaceX Sentinel 6 Launch Remix - Tracking The Booster* th-cam.com/video/sXup0kgkTCs/w-d-xo.html
Or people watching the "Discovery" channel - Next time on DESTROYED IN SECONDS - the biggest radio telescope gets..... DESTROYED IN SECONDS DunDunDuuuuunn watch the footage repeat 10 times with action movie music in the background
That drone footage - when you consider the timing, the proximity, and the sheer unpredictability - is *maybe* the most incredible video footage I've ever seen.
It was not that unpredicable if they monitored cable and saw wires breaking from one day to another. Still great luck I guess. Something like famous video of bridge collapse due to wind induced osciallation.
@@pavelperina7629, writes _"Something like famous video of bridge collapse due to wind induced osciallation."_ Galloping Gertie, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I'm amazed at the sheer guts of who was flying it. He had to be somewhere nearby because drones don't have unlimited range, yet even in the middle of all that chaos and noise he was able to spin the drone round in time to catch the end of the collapse. Frankly, if it had been me I'd probably still be running...
If you look at the drone footage, when it pans around so that the helipad comes into view you can see what appears to be the drone operator off to one side in a red jacket.
He collatep All last August 1 a Cable 1 collatep November 6 a Second cable Collatep Dicember 1 a fall Completed donw a droped and crushed and top second and suvivor top people he Dissasped in Arecibo Telescope and He suvivor in 23 years hours 34 Minutes 48 second 59 as Timelaped Fast and Get Day morning for getting Pm To night and Understand fell and Effect I dont hears and I dont have wrong noise he Collatep solo😒
That is incredible. Both because arecibo was jammed in my brain by Carl Sagan, but the fidelity the video caught. I will happily up my tax bill for aracibo 2.0. It is just too amazing of a piece of engineering to go quietly into the night.
Here's why I wanted you to cover this event, even if I only thought about it, not even verbalized it. I knew you'd be objective, stick to the facts, and interpret the images accordingly. No clickbait, no overhype, no demolition gore. Giving it the respect it deserved. Thank you for doing so.
That's why independent science channels such as SM are so much better than reading the news sometimes, who make it seem extremely worse than it actually is. Engineers knew Arecibo was going to collapse, they knew they had no time to decommission it, so when the collapse did happen no one was hurt as they were in safe zones. Most news channels makes it sound like the most un-expected event ever. A nice simple analysis like this is way better than anything a news network could push out.
I just wish he would also add what went wrong with maintenance which would prevent that. What are technicalities of mainteining this structure properly. That kinda stuff. But maybe that will come later?
@@matrixfull Mind you, i'm not a structural engineer. But here's my common sense approach on what went wrong, using the facts that we have available. This was a structure built in 1963. It is owned by US NSF, that is an independent agency, with a 8.3 billion dollar budget (2020). Might sound like a lot, but they do have a lot of areas they work with. And I do mean a lot. So that budget is peanuts considering. As it is, sadly, normal. Science and Culture usually get left behind in the pie of any countries budget, so this is no exception. Once again, sadly. I have no doubt that the engineering done was anything besides stellar (no pun intended). Proof of the matter is that the structure stood for almost 60 years. As we could see, four cables were required to hold the load. What we know as well is that loads like that are usually build with redundancies in mind, in case one fails. As one did. Scott mentioned how the cables were fixed to the structure. So it leads me to believe it couldnt be just a "let's just replace the missing cable". Leads me to believe it would not only be a very challenging engineering feat to do so, but prohibitive budget wize. That could also be the reason they decided to decommission the site. Because they couldnt just abandon the site and wait for it to break (that would be irresponsible), so they had to safely take it down. They were closely monitoring the cable snaps (as per photographic evidence) so they knew they had very little time. They just ran out of said time. All that said, I dont see it as a maintenance issue. I'm confident to say that everything that could be done, was done up to that point. Short of having the budget to get the appropriate gear up there (and it's very hard to get there), lowering the apparatus and replacing the cable, waiting for the metal to settle, and then raising it up. But I do understand the mindset. We learn from mistakes in order not to repeat them. That is quite important. It's not about finding who or what to blame. For me, I see it as a huge loss for the world, as everyone benefitted from the research. And maybe if everyone contributed to the behemoth of the task that was replacing that missing cable, we wouldnt have come to this. but that's "what if"sms. They dont add to the conversation. But that's my point of view. Sorry for the wall of text.
@@alphapt9370 Thank you for your very interesting reply. I am sorry but I do enjoy seeking what ifs because my mindset is: there is always the way and seeing things like prevention and last straw before point of no return that could be done. It fascinates me. In every disaster that's what I seek. We are all humans we all do mistakes; it's not point to blame anyone but to see action of no return. I don't seek names but practical executions that would in different version of our world lead to different result. It's mindblowing structure; very complex. So that adds to the interest to me. I understand you don't like what ifs, but thanks for your point of view still. Thank you.
@@deborahchesser7375 it wasn't an intentional demolishment, it was a structural failure, and after one cable broke weeks ago, then a second cable, it became too dangerous to place any human on the gantry to repair it. It quickly became an inevitable death.
@@scottmanley P.S. I send your videos to my 11 year old grandson. I'm trying to get his head out of his video games! I get these one word responses from him "Cool".
@@markusrobinson3858 Try to get him playing Kerbal Space Program or something like the Bridge building simulations. I grew up with video games and they taught me a lot.
@@scottmanley I remember a coder, Roedy Green, who taught summer camp programming to young kids back in the 90's, and he said, "I don't care much for games myself, but they wanted to make realistic-looking water-waves for their animations." (this was 2d simple graphics stuff, mind) and he told them for that they would need a bit of trig. Suddenly trig became very cool around there. It isn't easy to make trig cool.
Technical analysis and commentary is a far cry from "Rubbernecking a disaster". Thanks for this video. I always look forward to your take on these kinds of events.
Outstanding achievement......55 years of service! Thank you for your service to everyone who worked on this project! You have all helped us know more about our universe! RIP! but very proud of the achievements from this team!
Same here. I am 81 yrs old and have loved astronomy since I was 5-6 yrs of age. The lost of Arecibo is major with me. I have been there many times. I was born a few miles to the west and would travel through Arecibo on my way to San Juan. Yes, I do feel I have lost part of my family.
Hi Scott, checking in from Puerto Rico here. It's very sad what has happened to the telescope. We were so proud to have an important piece of scientific discovery on our little island. In middle school I got to visit the telescope and also walk around the perimeter since my friend's parents worked there. Amazing piece of machinery and awful the way it ended up
Very sad to see this, I was there back in 2005 and it was an awesome experience. They had rare asteroids and relics from space in the museum/conference center. It was important for SETI and another should be built IMO. Great video and God Bless.
My dad worked aboard Great Lakes iron ore freighters before WWII and was narrowly missed by a snapped cable that killed another crewman. With that cautionary tale I've always been careful around lines under tension.
@@r0cketplumber An inch thick cable can cut you in two. These chunky cables would make you explode. A merciful death when you think about it but horrific for anyone who witnesses it.
@@r0cketplumber Lines under tension: One moment you’re moored, the next moment your head is pulp. Also: Getting pinched between a line and a bollard. Yikes.
My dad served aboard an aircraft carrier in the 60s. He saw an arresting cable snap and when it whipped around it took out the landing gear from under some A-4 jets, leaving them pancaked on their bellies on the flight deck. The landing signal officer who guides the jets in to land is in a pit off to one side of the deck and he ducked down below deck level, saving his own life.
I was trying to remember. Both 2010 and Contact started in a big telescope, but I think the movies and the novels had it differently. I’m sure the 2010 novel starts at Arecibo, but maybe they filmed it at the VLA. And I’m going to guess that the novel Contact starts off at the VLA, but the movie switched that to Arecibo
Great structural analysis video and man, glad to hear no one was hurt. That collaspse, as most tend to do, happens so fast that you can't believe it until it's already over.
Fantastic analysis and explanation! That was so much more satisfying to watch than the bare collapse footage, which of course was already dang impressive in itself.
my wife and i spent our 5th wedding anniversary in PR doing lots of diving, biking, etc., but the height of the trip was visiting the observatory. that old t-shirt is going in a frame on my wall. and don't even get me started on sagan's book contact - this was a place for the imagination to reach the stars, very literally. seems like a titanic moment, really. words cannot express just how moving this was, and what its loss means.
I will never forget that morning , turning on the tv to hear the local news on channel 4 WAPA TV and the first thing you hear is the weather woman while crying that the Arecibo Observatory has collapsed. My wife and i looked at each other in shock and immediately felt so sad and almost felt like crying. My wife and i live in Puerto Rico and we have visited the Arecibo Observatory 4 times , last time was 3 years ago with the kids. We love taking the Tour , it was simply an honor to be in the presence of such important piece of technology and hear all the discoveries that were founded by this Giant. Now the giant has fallen and a immense sorrow falls over our island , we havent got a positive month since the year 2020 started. Hopefully someday the Arecibo Observatory will rise again. Hopefully.
I feel you, I woke up for class then I saw a message in fb that said ARECIBO SE CAYO and I was like oh no. I quickly searched up and my mom saw it, she was crying and I was like oh SHIT. I live in Hatillo btw and Ada Monzon made me cry seeing her cry.
In my first engineering job my boss, a great engineer from PR, told me about his experience building this radio dish. He was injured in a construction accident when a large boulder hit him on the side of the head, and he lost his hearing in that side. He had some great stories of the construction of the support columns and the overhead cables. We must rebuild this wonderful scientific instrument.
Just like Lavoisier. He was executed in the french revolution, for the terrible crime of not being an ignorant peasant apparently, and he wanted to go out at least providing information of value, so he said he would try to let everyone know if the head remained conscious and if so how long, and that he would blink his eyes for as long as he could after the guillotine cut his head off. He blinked his eyes for 15 seconds to everyone's horror. So much for it being instant and without cruelty.
Scott, I don't think I have ever heard your voice so heavy with emotion. Truly, this was a horrific incident, and a tremendously tragic day for science. I share your hopes that Arecibo will become a Phoenix.
It is depressing and sad, i was at the brink of crying as it started to go down! Something broke in me, like the end of the space shuttle. Makes me sad and angry. Greetings from Munich, Tom.
They had a drone flying around for days and it was all over in a matter of seconds. And wow, the drone was in the exact place at exactly the right moment. And it happened during daylight on a clear day! Interesting commentary, thank you.
Not many videos make me sad, but this is truly one of them. Arecibo was an amazing instrument, and when I was growing up, I remember reading about it and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. When the two cables snapped, I had still hoped that this telescope would miraculously find a way to get repaired, but I see now that that is not going to be the case. I’m just as sad about seeing it go as I was about losing the Opportunity rover.
it was actually expected to happen. its why they did or plan on it being decommissioned and was planned to be demo'd it in the future as repairs was going to be impossible to do safely.
True. But remember, it should have been put out of service over a decade ago. AND Now we have damn good argument to build a new and better one. Arecibo was great. Now we have to make a superior heir.
It was still a pretty impressive feat of engineering, regardless. And heartbreaking to watch it fail. So glad nobody was injured or killed. Those cables would rip a person in half.
@@mark7574 Would be a good point if the news wasn't literally just reporting on each new Covid case and how Trump and Biden are fighting for the White House (Despite the fact I'm not in America)
@@KantFromEC the news isn't any one single organization.. it all depends on what type of news topics you are regularly reading. I knew about the issues at Arecibo for a long while, this was somewhat expected. You can get lost in politics news or read things you're actually interested in.
This was so absolutely devastating to watch... Your narration and the slow motion video really helped to understand how things literally broke down. Thank you so much for this.
No. The telescope is way beyond repair at this point and it was anyways already on its last legs. Even if this hadn't happened the telescope would have likely been decommissioned in the next decade because it's a design with many flaws that make it fairly unmaintainable in the long run. It had a good run, but it's time to let it go.
Its a famous building created over hundreds of years ago located on the capital of one of the most popular places on the planet Then we have a shady building that fell on its own weigh located in a backwater jungle
But this is in Puerto rico, where the modern day "governors" would make the donations and most of any money for rebuilding, repairs or preservation vanish into their own pockets.
Rubber necking at disaster images is incredibly valid and interesting, it is a strong learning experience as well as something that helps you value your everyday safety and continuance of life. I mean gorehounds get the gas, but watching engineering failures up close is incredibly interesting!
It cost $71.3M in today's dollars. FAST cost $170 using much more modern engineering practices, lighter cables, etc. Arecibo was definitely a bit underbuilt.
Science is the plaything of politics. For most of it's early life it was well funded (probably because it was important for defense during the cold war) but in the last couple decades that hasn't exactly been the case. The cuts in science funding have been especially deep under the trump administration. Also much of the damage which led to the failure was a result of hurricane Maria in 2017 which was never properly addressed.
@@spiderpickle3255 attention has been diverted only. This was a very important dish. however, technologies have evolved. Now we use arrays of satellites above the Earth's atmosphere where clear imagery can be collected. Hubble Telescope was the first real step. There has actually been an escalation in DoD activity in partnership with NASA and SpaceX so I wouldn't say we don't need scientists as much anymore. Only the technology has changed.
@@spiderpickle3255 The dish was having trouble with funding long before the Trump administration. 20 years ago, when I was participating in the SETI@home project, there was frequent discussion about the lack of funding for the facility.
@@Crosshair84 As I stated "For most of it's early life it was well funded . . . but in the last couple decades that hasn't exactly been the case." But at the same time one can't ignore that trump proposed cutting funding to the NSF by something like 40% before backlash made him walk it back.
Damn, this is so sad to watch. But at the same time incredible lucky to have so much footage, and the accident occured during daytime. Great video, good story.
Yea, as a general space industry guy it was probably also tied to a lack of general funding for updates to old equipment. I can only imagine what the inspectors said every time they looked over that thing.
So sad that this 57-year-old radio telescope has come to an end. It was my favourite out of all the radio telescopes, a one-time record holder for being the biggest, and it simply looked really cool too. I hope it will be re-built, at some point.
There's gonna be a trend in signs and end-dates. Anything 2020 is gonna be "You know when." EX: "Chadwick Boseman: 1976 - You Know What Year" "Arecibo Observatory: 1960 - You Know When"
You hit the details dead on. FYI: The area was closed to house building when the observatory was being built, more for safety reasons than the signals causing problem with the machines in the satalite. However, a lot of people heard everything from beyond the area that morning.....and cried when the news of what happen was being reported on all the news programs.
Watching powerful forces at work is always mesmerizing, and there's so much to learn from such fantastic footage. I'm so glad no one was hurt, and the Arecibo Telescope will be very missed.
I'm impressed with how carm and stressless voice Scott maintains throughout the video. 👏😀 Almost everybody else would have had their sensational disaster voice on high.😳
@Anessen When large stars die, their cores collapse suddenly and violently. The radio receiver, the cables, and the towers did collapse violently due to gravity, so the analogy is appropriate enough.
A lot of us were emotionally invested in this place, Scott. Personally, I recall seeing Arecebo listed as the source of data my computers were processing for SETI at Home. Our sentimental connections to the place were deep. It's good you covered it, man.
Ditto! I was in starting on May 31 of 1999. Over a half million hours of CPU time on the Classic version and 15million credits on the last version. " has participated in the SETI@home project since 1 June 1999, and has contributed 15,088,464 Cobblestones of computation (13.04 quintillion floating-point operations) and 90407 Classic workunits to SETI@home's search for extraterrestrial life. Dr. Eric J. Korpela Director, SETI@home 7 December 2020 "
Everybody is talking about the perfect timing of the drone operator, but there's some next-level camera work going on too. Zooming out when the action starts happening... Panning left and right to get the full breadth of the action without oversteering... Most drone operators don't have the skill to handle live, unexpected action shots like this. I'm glad this pilot was there for this shot.
Its heart breaking to see something that old, legendary and valuable just collapse through pure lack of will, money and maintenance. so sad. 73 Arecibo !!
As a (very) amateur astronomer, it wasn't until my early 20s, c. 1998, that I began to full appreciate the enormous value of radio astronomy. Yes, here in the UK, we have our own venerable Jodrell Bank, specifically the Lovell Telescope. But although it has been somewhat superceded by the much larger dish in China, Arecibo holds a very special place, especially given how many Nobel Prizes were awarded based off of research conducted using it ... My hope is the the entire global astronomical community unites, and raises the money necessary to not only restore, but upgrade, it, as it is an even more important telescope than even the VLA, in New Mexico ... ... and that is saying something ... But, yes; I share your sentiment. There was something utterly gut-wrenching to watch, helplessly, the collapse, and it was also heartbreaking. That it was allowed to decay, quite likely due to insufficient funding to replace the decaying cables, and possibly the suspension towers too, in hindsight, it was almost inevitable it was going to collapse. Whether or not politics gets out of the way of science, and the funding for not just the repair, and even upgrading, of such a venerable scientific instrument, is a huge unknown ... ... but I truly hope so, especially if Puerto Rico relies heavily on tourism, and the impact on the local economy by having so many scientists work there, for many weeks at a time, perhaps would be sufficient incentive ... ... but who the hell knows ...
@@nigelft Restoring Arecibo will be a huge task. Not only will the towers have to be rebuilt to be up to scratch with modern construction standards, those towers were from the 1960s, but the entire dish is likely needed to be replaced from the amount of damage it took from the rest of the telescope, its components and support cables. However, as sad as this event was, in the future once funding is available, there is a good possibility Arecibo could be rebuilt. There is a larger dish in China yes, but it is unable to transmit, nor does it cover the same wavelength's Arecibo could. A new central platform could be built with state-of-the-art materials to make it as light as possible. More facilities could become available. There are so many possibilities that are possible with a rebuild. That central platform weighs 900 tons, equivalent of 8.8 MN's of force. With new materials, that could be slashed dramatically, reducing the strain on new cabling. I'm only 16 years old, but I am fascinated by the scientific world and hearing about this observatory, the one that transmitted the Arecibo message, was very disheartening to hear about. But, with all things built, especially held up by tension, it must eventually come down. This could be seen as a new era of Arecibo, as they have the opportunity to make things even better than they once were. If you've ever seen inside of the control room they look like they're running computer systems from a long while back, presumably to operate the old thing. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. =)
@@atomfusion231 The problem I see with rebuilding it is that it is probably cheaper to build it somewhere else from scratch than to clean up the remains.
@@fededevi1985 Its subjective. Arecibo already has the main dish, all it needs is some patching up and some maintenance. (Yes I know that is a large understatement, considering how much of it was seriously damaged, but my point stands) The clean-up will likely be supported by the locals and the local government. Its really about whether enough money would be available to rebuilt the central platform. Building an entire dish would cost more, as you'd need to build the dish, build the offices and roads and more. Arecibo is also already located inside of a administered quiet zone, so finding a new spot could prove tricky. Honestly, I don't know. It really comes down to whether the federal government can set aside enough money to even partially begin a rebuild. Arecibo does have more experiments, so they can continue to operate, but without the main telescope their reach is severely diminished.
@@fededevi1985 it definitely isn't, gotta assess new sites for noise etc (feasibility), clear land, environmental impact surveys.. But I'm also not an astronomer so I don't think unlimited tax money should be thrown at every kind of science imaginable. That money comes from real people, people struggling to make ends meet to begin with. Special projects like this should come solely through fundraising, and if that can't be done then there's not the will to do it. I know astronomers will disagree because that's all they care about, but literally stealing money from people to spend on what you feel is important, instead of letting them make their own choices on how their money should be spent, is plain wrong. It's easy to think it isn't when you're reasonably well off, though.. but what about single parents supporting children on 50k a year because their spouse died, and other people barely making ends meet? It's not right to spend their money on projects like this and say "it's for their own good, it's a shame they're too ignorant to see it" Gotta love all the one-sidedness in every persons thinking and political beliefs nowadays.
What's crazy is, the collapse of the array in BF4 took place in the year 2020, and it fell in almost the same place/manner... So, does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?
@@darlawrence9295 lack of resources and funds, the first cable broke at the start of the pandemic and, like everything else, the replacement was severely delayed. Then the second one broke and we know how it ends.
@@the_wretched Additionally, Siege of Shanghai has displays in the collapsible building that show various scientists working with petri discs, wearing masks aswell. 🤔
This was one of my favorite structures around the world. I grew up near it, in my hometown of Lares, PR. When I was like 5 y/o my father had a booklet in black and white that showed the technology and it's purpose (I think). I was too little to understand then. I miss that thing!
I was thinking about this, with the GoldenEye 007 N64 (Nintendo64) game. Look on youtube for GoldenEye N64 mission 7: Cradle. Very old game, but it was really fun to unlock all the extra stuff, and then use that with a 4 player Team Deathmatch (2 vs 2). Would have been really fun with more players, same with MarioKart 64 Deathmatch, both were really good games. Some other types were also, like Starfox 64, but Mariokart 64 never got old in Deathmatch with 4 players. I remember the proximity mines in GoldenEye 007 N64, when it was 4 players. lol When 2 other players had taken the bathroom and waited, my teammate would run into the bathroom after respawning, every time and continue to respawn. lol I would run in there and look at the other team's viewports on the screen, just to run around them constantly while they tried to shoot me, they could not figure out how I was doing that. lol ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I would give links, but it would seem that Scott doesn't allow links under his videos, or my comments go hidden. --------------------- If you are wondering where we are with emerging technology, how about new and good innovation to a whole other level, with Graphene and Quantum Technologies. Also Photonics. Go to my channel and find 2 simple steps for my other channel. Only go to the "created playlists", and then start at the bottom playlists, the Graphene playlist, next Photonic Computing playlist, Quantum Computing playlist, and so on, work your way to the top playlists. Watch the first 2 videos in the Graphene playlist, and then go to the next, and please come back to the rest of the videos later. Don't forget the articles in each playlist description, "after".. you watch all the videos in each playlist.
We will see this video over and over in class. Incredible structure, almost unbelievable that it ever existed. Maintenance on something like this is almost impossible. We see many super structures like this having the same problem, we cant figure out how to maintain them properly. I'm glad we had a drone in the sky to watch these cables let go. That is an extremely rare thing to witness in the real world
It's funny, on that day of the collapsed, I replayed battlefield 4 since 2018 and i played rogue transmission, and also brought down the dish... Not saying I'm the cause...
I have an idea. Will Mr. Elon Musk please pick up a house phone. There is an important call for Mr. Elon Musk. Once again, will Mr. Elon Musk please pick up a house phone.
You just won the 'Today's Most Stupid Internet Comment' Award. Well done. And that's even after you edited it ( XD) means you have a great chance of winning the 'Most Stupid Internet Comment of the Decade' Award too. The struggle and toil all your ancestors went through to make this possible, just for you, was sooo worth it.
Understand even with the delay of cables breaking this fell at 32 feet a second with about only 16 ft due to the acceleration curve in the first second. So the fact it took a few seconds for the main fall , not counting all the action & reaction movement and continued catastrophic explosive failures afterwards. The sheer amount of energy released that was under load massive and went from stored static to dynamic is amazing.
As a lover of astronomy and a Puerto Rican, it hurt so much, considering what he said toward the end about politics in PR and any plans to fix/replace it. Without external help (that probably won’t come because we’re not all that important of a US territory), we definitely wouldn’t be able to with our economy where it is right now (the island’s not the US’s).
@@Mikeological While I am sorry the telescope was lost, it is unlikely it would have been saved even if it were on the mainland. The Arecibo Observatory had at most four months (from August 2020 when the first cable broke) until December 1, 2020 to do the large scale construction necessary to remove the platform before fixing or replacing the cables. Even with funding, successful repair probably wasn't going to happen in that time frame. Consider what happened/was narrowly avoided at the Oroville Dam. The Oroville Dam in California opened the same year as Arecibo Observatory in 1963. The projects were of similar scale. In 2017, Oroville Dam's concrete spillway (used for overflow water in years of heavy rain) failed. A massive stream of water started eating away at the hillside that formed part of the dam. Fortunately, shortly after the spillway failure, the rain stopped in California and the next year (2018) was dry. Dumb luck is what saved the Oroville Dam. They BARELY replaced the concrete spillway by the rainy season in 2019. So, two years to fix.
@@emawerna yeah that’s definitely true, but whatever chance it has of getting repaired would arguably be at least somewhat higher if it were in the states. Fair point though that it wouldn’t be much better unless it were near Houston or something where it would feel almost synonymous to JSC (in terms of symbolic value on top of its functionality) to a lot of people here (I know it wouldn’t be the best place with all the light pollution but you get the point haha). I’m not complaining about where PR ranks in the mainland’s priorities though, I know it wouldn’t make sense for it to be treated like a state if it’s just a territory (even the statehood thing is definitely not gonna happen any time soon, if at all)
@@dexterricketts8490 I can remember the tail end of that as a toddler. What a glorious time. I’m disappointed with how much the big educational channels and news have gradually reduced their content to view-pandering. I remember staring at animations of molecular structures for hours on Knowledge (or something) as a kid.
Actually, having it fall without any injuries must have been a big relief for the staff on site. They saw the cables breaking away little by little, and there wasn't much they could do safely.
The "maintenance issues" were deliberate, the staff has been pleading for adequate funding to repair the damage of the 2013 hurricane since it happened. Instead the anti-science party in Congress actually **reduced** the maintenance budget. This was not an "accident", this was part of their plan.
That drone footage is the most impressive thing I've seen all month. Talk about being in the right place at the right time, engineering students will be forced to watch that footage for decades to come.
At least some good will come of it in that respect.
Bridge builders take notes.
All month. 😊 It's only the 4th.
Did you see Scott's music video last month? Well worth a watch: *SpaceX Sentinel 6 Launch Remix - Tracking The Booster*
th-cam.com/video/sXup0kgkTCs/w-d-xo.html
I was thinking, this is going to become the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse study for freshman engineering students.
Or people watching the "Discovery" channel - Next time on DESTROYED IN SECONDS - the biggest radio telescope gets..... DESTROYED IN SECONDS DunDunDuuuuunn watch the footage repeat 10 times with action movie music in the background
That drone footage - when you consider the timing, the proximity, and the sheer unpredictability - is *maybe* the most incredible video footage I've ever seen.
Soon on the frontpage of our news outlets: Telescope brought down by rogue drone. Senate calls for regulation.
It was not that unpredicable if they monitored cable and saw wires breaking from one day to another. Still great luck I guess. Something like famous video of bridge collapse due to wind induced osciallation.
It’s absolutely up there. Pretty incredible footage.
All that and it also wasn't 480p flip phone quality video either!
@@pavelperina7629, writes _"Something like famous video of bridge collapse due to wind induced osciallation."_
Galloping Gertie, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I don't know how long they were flying that drone for, but talking about good timing
I'm amazed at the sheer guts of who was flying it. He had to be somewhere nearby because drones don't have unlimited range, yet even in the middle of all that chaos and noise he was able to spin the drone round in time to catch the end of the collapse. Frankly, if it had been me I'd probably still be running...
Bet the operator hasn’t stopped thinking about that moment
@@d2factotum peons like us use drones with limited range. I doubt the operator was anywhere near danger.
If you look at the drone footage, when it pans around so that the helipad comes into view you can see what appears to be the drone operator off to one side in a red jacket.
As Scott points out - inspecting the cable mounts
RIP that last cable, you tried so hard
It’s like when a group picks up a heavy piece of furniture and your effort didn’t help at all, but then you suddenly become the guy
He collatep All last August 1 a Cable 1 collatep
November 6 a Second cable Collatep
Dicember 1 a fall Completed donw a droped and crushed and top second and suvivor top people he Dissasped in Arecibo Telescope and He suvivor in 23 years hours 34 Minutes 48 second 59 as Timelaped Fast and Get Day morning for getting Pm To night and Understand fell and Effect I dont hears and I dont have wrong noise he Collatep solo😒
That is incredible. Both because arecibo was jammed in my brain by Carl Sagan, but the fidelity the video caught. I will happily up my tax bill for aracibo 2.0. It is just too amazing of a piece of engineering to go quietly into the night.
Here's why I wanted you to cover this event, even if I only thought about it, not even verbalized it. I knew you'd be objective, stick to the facts, and interpret the images accordingly. No clickbait, no overhype, no demolition gore. Giving it the respect it deserved. Thank you for doing so.
That's why independent science channels such as SM are so much better than reading the news sometimes, who make it seem extremely worse than it actually is. Engineers knew Arecibo was going to collapse, they knew they had no time to decommission it, so when the collapse did happen no one was hurt as they were in safe zones. Most news channels makes it sound like the most un-expected event ever. A nice simple analysis like this is way better than anything a news network could push out.
@Minonian Mother nature takes its course whether we like it or not. It all really was set in motion by the hurricane that moved through the area.
I just wish he would also add what went wrong with maintenance which would prevent that. What are technicalities of mainteining this structure properly. That kinda stuff. But maybe that will come later?
@@matrixfull Mind you, i'm not a structural engineer. But here's my common sense approach on what went wrong, using the facts that we have available.
This was a structure built in 1963.
It is owned by US NSF, that is an independent agency, with a 8.3 billion dollar budget (2020). Might sound like a lot, but they do have a lot of areas they work with. And I do mean a lot. So that budget is peanuts considering. As it is, sadly, normal. Science and Culture usually get left behind in the pie of any countries budget, so this is no exception. Once again, sadly.
I have no doubt that the engineering done was anything besides stellar (no pun intended). Proof of the matter is that the structure stood for almost 60 years. As we could see, four cables were required to hold the load. What we know as well is that loads like that are usually build with redundancies in mind, in case one fails. As one did. Scott mentioned how the cables were fixed to the structure. So it leads me to believe it couldnt be just a "let's just replace the missing cable". Leads me to believe it would not only be a very challenging engineering feat to do so, but prohibitive budget wize. That could also be the reason they decided to decommission the site. Because they couldnt just abandon the site and wait for it to break (that would be irresponsible), so they had to safely take it down. They were closely monitoring the cable snaps (as per photographic evidence) so they knew they had very little time. They just ran out of said time.
All that said, I dont see it as a maintenance issue. I'm confident to say that everything that could be done, was done up to that point. Short of having the budget to get the appropriate gear up there (and it's very hard to get there), lowering the apparatus and replacing the cable, waiting for the metal to settle, and then raising it up.
But I do understand the mindset. We learn from mistakes in order not to repeat them. That is quite important. It's not about finding who or what to blame. For me, I see it as a huge loss for the world, as everyone benefitted from the research. And maybe if everyone contributed to the behemoth of the task that was replacing that missing cable, we wouldnt have come to this. but that's "what if"sms. They dont add to the conversation.
But that's my point of view. Sorry for the wall of text.
@@alphapt9370 Thank you for your very interesting reply. I am sorry but I do enjoy seeking what ifs because my mindset is: there is always the way and seeing things like prevention and last straw before point of no return that could be done. It fascinates me. In every disaster that's what I seek. We are all humans we all do mistakes; it's not point to blame anyone but to see action of no return. I don't seek names but practical executions that would in different version of our world lead to different result. It's mindblowing structure; very complex. So that adds to the interest to me. I understand you don't like what ifs, but thanks for your point of view still. Thank you.
"Its enough to make a grown man cry"
I crunched some 20 CPU-years of SETI work units from there... yeah, my eyes watered.
@@rsteeb This actually brought a tear to my eye too! I also did 20 years of SETI work units! :(
@@rsteeb why couldn’t they just leave it ?
@@deborahchesser7375 it wasn't an intentional demolishment, it was a structural failure, and after one cable broke weeks ago, then a second cable, it became too dangerous to place any human on the gantry to repair it. It quickly became an inevitable death.
i am in fact, crying. The dish was an important part of my younger years.
The fact that was a 900 ton platform suspended that high still blows me away.
For 60 years, no less!
@S D Keep living happy into your ignorance.
@Steve Owen He's clearly joking. Lol
@S D what a madlad!!
@@GuteWafflen i don't think he was joking, but rather spewing ignorance.
The trees know how lethal those cables are.
So do those former Concrete and rebar built cable support towers.....
I could see the fear in their leaves.
Scott Manley, as a fellow engineer, I want to reiterate how fine your reporting is. One of my most favorite channels. Thank you!
I'm not actually an engineer, my education is in physics and astronomy. I just try to learn as much as I can. So, thank you.
@@scottmanley Well I'll take you at your word. Be that as it may, you have an engineering / problem solving brain and you use it. Brilliant stuff '-)
@@scottmanley P.S. I send your videos to my 11 year old grandson. I'm trying to get his head out of his video games! I get these one word responses from him "Cool".
@@markusrobinson3858 Try to get him playing Kerbal Space Program or something like the Bridge building simulations. I grew up with video games and they taught me a lot.
@@scottmanley
I remember a coder, Roedy Green, who taught summer camp programming to young kids back in the 90's, and he said, "I don't care much for games myself, but they wanted to make realistic-looking water-waves for their animations." (this was 2d simple graphics stuff, mind) and he told them for that they would need a bit of trig. Suddenly trig became very cool around there. It isn't easy to make trig cool.
Technical analysis and commentary is a far cry from "Rubbernecking a disaster". Thanks for this video. I always look forward to your take on these kinds of events.
He belittles his work
We need to get AvE in on this one.
@@UltraGamma25 I thought MLP-addicted users had gone extinct for a long time
"guys, we sadly need to demolish it"
Arecibo: "fine, I'll do it myself"
what does that mean? FINE I'll do it live!
@@insertcognomen wrong f word.
You can't fire me, I quit!
@@DebiSunset lol. I did not know that. I've heard of F**ked up, Insecure. Neurotic and Emotional.
Outstanding achievement......55 years of service! Thank you for your service to everyone who worked on this project! You have all helped us know more about our universe! RIP! but very proud of the achievements from this team!
Did they? Still no open explanation on why this faction of aliens are still helping us.!?
Still no open answers !?
@@trogdordog04smith95 please explain yourself I'm fascinated
I think you got pretty close in your MS Paint assessment, Scott.
Looked almost spot on to me!
Indeed
That was my first thought when I saw this video. He nailed it.
What do you mean?
@@vipon9491 look at Scott’s earlier analysis before the video came out. He was working from stills and predicted what we see in the video.
May i just say, as sad as the Arecibo collapse is, the footage is amazing.
I never thought I would see the day.
Hell, I even have a model of it from 30 years ago. The sadness and nostalgia are palpable.
Iv'e been there a few times, it was in dire straights last time I was there about 7 yrs ago but it was massive.
You are really lucky to have seen it !
straits
@@richard4short5 str8s
streits*
I live on the island and only saw it once.
I remember this setting from the movie 007 Golden Eye
Same
Sean Bean was the best actor in that movie.
And the Contact
This moive that its Moive 007 golden Eye?🤚😞🤚
@@mauryaponte4671 wtf... Lol... What's a moive?
Weirdly most I can think about is the nostalgia of countless hours as a kid of chasing Trevalyan around in N64 Goldeneye. RIP Arecibo
I wondered if that was the location for Goldeneye...
well this gave me nostalgia of battlefield 4 where i would blow up arecibo over and over lol
N64 goldeneye. Them were the days
@@BadWebDiver 100% is.. plus it was on the movie Contact with Jodi Foster and Matthew McConaughey.
Yes. I will have to watch Goldeneye again now.
I feel like I’ve been to a funeral. I feel a sense of loss and respect for what was once great. Thanks for the explanation.
I first knew about arecibo from James gunn novel the listeners in the early 70s.
Spot on. This may have been a technical analysis but it certainly felt like a eulogy.
I was part of the SETI project and I can confirm the feeling of a funeral. Sad day.
Same here. I am 81 yrs old and have loved astronomy since I was 5-6 yrs of age. The lost of Arecibo is major with me. I have been there many times. I was born a few miles to the west and would travel through Arecibo on my way to San Juan. Yes, I do feel I have lost part of my family.
Thank you. I don't feel so alone. Damn, this hit me hard.
Hi Scott, checking in from Puerto Rico here. It's very sad what has happened to the telescope. We were so proud to have an important piece of scientific discovery on our little island. In middle school I got to visit the telescope and also walk around the perimeter since my friend's parents worked there. Amazing piece of machinery and awful the way it ended up
Very sad to see this, I was there back in 2005 and it was an awesome experience. They had rare asteroids and relics from space in the museum/conference center. It was important for SETI and another should be built IMO. Great video and God Bless.
BF4 players are like: Just like the simulation.
yeah
Good sniper times.
Literally going to post this😁, good times indeed
I remember it from Goldeneye (both movie and game).
Rogue Transmission
The thought of those cables whipping around is pretty scary
Yeah!
My dad worked aboard Great Lakes iron ore freighters before WWII and was narrowly missed by a snapped cable that killed another crewman. With that cautionary tale I've always been careful around lines under tension.
@@r0cketplumber An inch thick cable can cut you in two. These chunky cables would make you explode. A merciful death when you think about it but horrific for anyone who witnesses it.
@@r0cketplumber Lines under tension: One moment you’re moored, the next moment your head is pulp.
Also: Getting pinched between a line and a bollard. Yikes.
My dad served aboard an aircraft carrier in the 60s. He saw an arresting cable snap and when it whipped around it took out the landing gear from under some A-4 jets, leaving them pancaked on their bellies on the flight deck. The landing signal officer who guides the jets in to land is in a pit off to one side of the deck and he ducked down below deck level, saving his own life.
The drone was very lucky that a cable did not slice it into a million pieces. Nice video Scott.
We lost one of the advance Telescope who search for new planetary positions and life on other planet's 🥺
My drone went on strike after this happened and I got a call from the drone union.
How can a cable cause any damage? It's just a wire
@@esecallum There is a lot of tension on the cables. Think of a rubber band, but it’s made out of metal.
@@PorucznikBorewicz And three inches across. And moving 120 mph
This dish was also a featured site at the beginning of the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster, many years ago.
Also james bonds golden eye
And the movie "the arrival" with Charly sheen
I was trying to remember. Both 2010 and Contact started in a big telescope, but I think the movies and the novels had it differently. I’m sure the 2010 novel starts at Arecibo, but maybe they filmed it at the VLA. And I’m going to guess that the novel Contact starts off at the VLA, but the movie switched that to Arecibo
And Battlefield 4
Yeah I remember Contact. I think that movie was responsible for the dish falling apart to be honest, not cables.
Arecibo is the scientific equivalent of “The Giving Tree” - it gave us great physics all the way until the end!
Even it's ending was a physics demonstration.
I bet that structural engineers can learn from the close up drone video of the cable snapping. Perhaps help prevent this kind of thing in the future.
I will always remember this telescope from the movies Goldeneye and Contact, sad to see it go!
Search for:
Carl Sagan Aricebo
James Burke Aricebo
All things end, but it hurt to see this one go.
This was the one in contact? Damn that sucks, I loved that movie
@None None "What? People have different experiences and priorities than me?! You must be an idiot!"
The arrogant idiocracy is real.
Hey, I feel ya!... but, give it a few years and will become a popular spot for urban (or not so) exploration! 👍🏻😆
Meanwhile:
Battlefield devs taking notes
Taking notes? Naw, Dice knew it was gonna happen. Dice did Arecibo, mark my words!
*cough* I think they were spot on...
@@SamwiseAjax Also bf4 was set in 2020.
Im now waiting for South China Sea and Suez Canal
@@xsupremeyx9923 plz no
More like patting themselves on the back.. spot on I would say.
Great structural analysis video and man, glad to hear no one was hurt. That collaspse, as most tend to do, happens so fast that you can't believe it until it's already over.
I'm so grateful to see these angles. You almost never get such great views of stuff like this. Extremely glad no one lost their life or was injured.
I'm impressed that this thing had survived over 50 years of hurricanes, though.
God cut the string. He said enough foolishness.
Oh 50 years, dang that's an amazing run.
I think they go underground. Some have lived for over 100 years.
I think they go underground. Some have lived for over 100 years.
Bro hurricane Maria really hurried its death
2020: Just when you thought you were out, it brings you back in.
The remaining 25 days worry me.
@@JoseyWales44s Same here
Just keeps on giv(ahem) taking
Really, its in the never seen this before category.
The Brazilian fires seem like a decade ago.
Fantastic analysis and explanation! That was so much more satisfying to watch than the bare collapse footage, which of course was already dang impressive in itself.
Still tearing up every time I see this footage. Arecibo was one of the wonders of the world.
i came to gawk . . . i stayed to mourn :-/
No it wasn’t
Thank you
my wife and i spent our 5th wedding anniversary in PR doing lots of diving, biking, etc., but the height of the trip was visiting the observatory. that old t-shirt is going in a frame on my wall. and don't even get me started on sagan's book contact - this was a place for the imagination to reach the stars, very literally.
seems like a titanic moment, really. words cannot express just how moving this was, and what its loss means.
I will never forget that morning , turning on the tv to hear the local news on channel 4 WAPA TV and the first thing you hear is the weather woman while crying that the Arecibo Observatory has collapsed. My wife and i looked at each other in shock and immediately felt so sad and almost felt like crying. My wife and i live in Puerto Rico and we have visited the Arecibo Observatory 4 times , last time was 3 years ago with the kids. We love taking the Tour , it was simply an honor to be in the presence of such important piece of technology and hear all the discoveries that were founded by this Giant. Now the giant has fallen and a immense sorrow falls over our island , we havent got a positive month since the year 2020 started. Hopefully someday the Arecibo Observatory will rise again. Hopefully.
I feel you, I woke up for class then I saw a message in fb that said ARECIBO SE CAYO and I was like oh no. I quickly searched up and my mom saw it, she was crying and I was like oh SHIT. I live in Hatillo btw and Ada Monzon made me cry seeing her cry.
@@bruvillo cryception
Why were you crying tho?
@@AcogR6 it's called cryception
@@SobboMonkeVR that’s not a word lol
In my first engineering job my boss, a great engineer from PR, told me about his experience building this radio dish. He was injured in a construction accident when a large boulder hit him on the side of the head, and he lost his hearing in that side. He had some great stories of the construction of the support columns and the overhead cables. We must rebuild this wonderful scientific instrument.
"For England, James?"
"No. For me."
I was wondering if this was the same satellite from Goldeneye. Lol. Best Bond movie!!
@@JohnSmith-is4pt dont forget contact with jodie foster
I was hoping to see this comment.
Cables break on close up camera:
Arecibo - "Even in death I still provide SCIENCE!"
Just like Lavoisier. He was executed in the french revolution, for the terrible crime of not being an ignorant peasant apparently, and he wanted to go out at least providing information of value, so he said he would try to let everyone know if the head remained conscious and if so how long, and that he would blink his eyes for as long as he could after the guillotine cut his head off. He blinked his eyes for 15 seconds to everyone's horror. So much for it being instant and without cruelty.
@Travis Thacker probably a terrible headache, too.
@Travis Thacker Without the part of the spine that transmits said pain data would you feel it?
Such a sad moment for astronomy.
The planned demolition was weeks away . The telescope has served 56 years and was weathered several storms and earthquakes and its demise was due ..
And astrology!
Wasn’t it kind of obsolete anyway?
And a very dramatic ending. This wasn't a simple decommission and disassemble.
Watching the great things about America collapse in real time.
Scott, I don't think I have ever heard your voice so heavy with emotion. Truly, this was a horrific incident, and a tremendously tragic day for science. I share your hopes that Arecibo will become a Phoenix.
I literally cried when I saw this on the morning news. This was my go to place to visit as a child and an adult.
Me too.😢
You cried 🤣?
@@MoarteaLunii i mean , why? why not feel anger towards those responsible?
7:15 "As the drone backs away" - Look at the background, that's not the drone backing away, it's the tower backing away.
holy shit it's true
God damn someone like this comment so people can see
Drone backs away 1 second later...
Good observation
It's both..
It is depressing and sad, i was at the brink of crying as it started to go down!
Something broke in me, like the end of the space shuttle.
Makes me sad and angry.
Greetings from Munich, Tom.
They had a drone flying around for days and it was all over in a matter of seconds. And wow, the drone was in the exact place at exactly the right moment. And it happened during daylight on a clear day! Interesting commentary, thank you.
Not many videos make me sad, but this is truly one of them. Arecibo was an amazing instrument, and when I was growing up, I remember reading about it and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.
When the two cables snapped, I had still hoped that this telescope would miraculously find a way to get repaired, but I see now that that is not going to be the case.
I’m just as sad about seeing it go as I was about losing the Opportunity rover.
Sad to see it collapse. Another bad event for 2020.
looking at the before pictures: it was only a matter of time
it was actually expected to happen. its why they did or plan on it being decommissioned and was planned to be demo'd it in the future as repairs was going to be impossible to do safely.
It wasn't all bad. Nobody got hurt!
True. But remember, it should have been put out of service over a decade ago.
AND
Now we have damn good argument to build a new and better one. Arecibo was great. Now we have to make a superior heir.
It was planned any way....In the very near future ...in months time
Missed opportunity:
"I'm Scott Manley, fall safe"
Too soon
@@CrazyChemistPL way to soon
That could work for Starship.
Flying is just falling with style.
I‘d rather have „fail-safe“ please...
If it weren't so sad, that would be the most beautiful collapse I've ever seen
I really hope they’ll build something new. Scott said it well with the end of the video
It was still a pretty impressive feat of engineering, regardless. And heartbreaking to watch it fail.
So glad nobody was injured or killed. Those cables would rip a person in half.
Genuinely upset I'm only hearing about this from f**king TH-cam recommendations..
Maybe you should start looking at news and you'd have found out about it straight after it happened
@@mark7574 Would be a good point if the news wasn't literally just reporting on each new Covid case and how Trump and Biden are fighting for the White House (Despite the fact I'm not in America)
It was reported extensively here in PR.
It was all over Latino news
@@KantFromEC the news isn't any one single organization.. it all depends on what type of news topics you are regularly reading. I knew about the issues at Arecibo for a long while, this was somewhat expected. You can get lost in politics news or read things you're actually interested in.
This was so absolutely devastating to watch... Your narration and the slow motion video really helped to understand how things literally broke down. Thank you so much for this.
He ruined everything
remember that time Notre Dame burned down and there were like millions in donations? can we get that again but ofc for Arecibo?
Especially given that Notre Dame is a nice building and all, but Arecibo was actively involved in defending the planet!
It's in the middle of Paris and its a church!! U think there will be anywhere near that many "believers" who care???
No. The telescope is way beyond repair at this point and it was anyways already on its last legs. Even if this hadn't happened the telescope would have likely been decommissioned in the next decade because it's a design with many flaws that make it fairly unmaintainable in the long run. It had a good run, but it's time to let it go.
Its a famous building created over hundreds of years ago located on the capital of one of the most popular places on the planet
Then we have a shady building that fell on its own weigh located in a backwater jungle
But this is in Puerto rico, where the modern day "governors" would make the donations and most of any money for rebuilding, repairs or preservation vanish into their own pockets.
Rubber necking at disaster images is incredibly valid and interesting, it is a strong learning experience as well as something that helps you value your everyday safety and continuance of life. I mean gorehounds get the gas, but watching engineering failures up close is incredibly interesting!
The condition the telescope was kept in.... I'm surprised it lasted this long.
It cost $71.3M in today's dollars. FAST cost $170 using much more modern engineering practices, lighter cables, etc. Arecibo was definitely a bit underbuilt.
Science is the plaything of politics.
For most of it's early life it was well funded (probably because it was important for defense during the cold war) but in the last couple decades that hasn't exactly been the case. The cuts in science funding have been especially deep under the trump administration.
Also much of the damage which led to the failure was a result of hurricane Maria in 2017 which was never properly addressed.
@@spiderpickle3255 attention has been diverted only. This was a very important dish. however, technologies have evolved. Now we use arrays of satellites above the Earth's atmosphere where clear imagery can be collected. Hubble Telescope was the first real step. There has actually been an escalation in DoD activity in partnership with NASA and SpaceX so I wouldn't say we don't need scientists as much anymore. Only the technology has changed.
@@spiderpickle3255 The dish was having trouble with funding long before the Trump administration. 20 years ago, when I was participating in the
SETI@home project, there was frequent discussion about the lack of funding for the facility.
@@Crosshair84 As I stated
"For most of it's early life it was well funded . . . but in the last couple decades that hasn't exactly been the case."
But at the same time one can't ignore that trump proposed cutting funding to the NSF by something like 40% before backlash made him walk it back.
"When did this happen?"
"2020."
"Of course."
@@BrainScramblies Nope. It doubles in January.
Indeed🇵🇷
🤣😂
@@kimmer6 know something?
@@kimmer6 2021 is the sequel where everything ramps up double crazy.
It held on just long enough to let us record one more thing from it...
Damn, this is so sad to watch. But at the same time incredible lucky to have so much footage, and the accident occured during daytime. Great video, good story.
I breaks my heart, really. It was iconic and amazing piece of technology...
Yup, was. Lol
It's all about how you vote.
The pride of Puerto Rico
I'm honored to have been able to visit this magnificent place. Thanks Scott for honoring our observatory. Love from PR
The only time I actually saw this structure was in the movie “Contact”, damn I feel sad now
I believe it was in an X-File as well
@@DebiSunset and Goldeneye
@@ryanexpert yes i was about to say that ... james bond too guess that happens to evil mastermind bases when they get beaten ;D
Also on the Movie The Cable Guy.
Same.
"They had been very actively inspecting the cables. Because they knew the cables were going to break soon."
XD
Yea, as a general space industry guy it was probably also tied to a lack of general funding for updates to old equipment. I can only imagine what the inspectors said every time they looked over that thing.
So heartbreaking being a physics student from Puerto Rico.
But there were a lot physics involved in its final demise :) It was a parting gift.
Ik
I feel your pain. 😢 It hurt watching that collapse.
Same, this is the telescope which picked up the wow! Signal :c
Prepare to calculate all this on your next test
So sad that this 57-year-old radio telescope has come to an end. It was my favourite out of all the radio telescopes, a one-time record holder for being the biggest, and it simply looked really cool too.
I hope it will be re-built, at some point.
There's an error @ around 10:30 where the video gets stuck on a repeating pic of the two towers.
Yeah, the shot of the control room only lasts for a frame or two.
Oh, the humanity...
Lots of us on the Island have fond memories of school trips to see the Observatory. I hope this wonderful site doesn't go to waste.
Someone: What year did it fall?
Me: I'll give you one guess
It fell because of the acoustic waves coming from all the coughing covid infected brasilians.
@@u.v.s.5583 forest=brazil I guess. Its not brazil ya dum dum.
@@u.v.s.5583 Costa Rica...
@@ChristophersMum Both of you are wrong! It is located in the island of Puerto Rico, a US territory in the Caribbean.
There's gonna be a trend in signs and end-dates. Anything 2020 is gonna be "You know when."
EX: "Chadwick Boseman: 1976 - You Know What Year"
"Arecibo Observatory: 1960 - You Know When"
This actually happened at the end of the Goldeneye 007 movie with James Bond. The structure fell on 006 at the end of the movie.
006:For England James?
007: No for me.
006: AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
You have earned a sub
This was my thought exactly
my first thought
I'm still waiting for the news that after realizing they were unhurt, one of the staff on site yelled out "Yes! I am invincible!" in a Russian accent.
@@scribejay and gets covered by liquid hydrogen? Hahahahaha
You hit the details dead on.
FYI: The area was closed to house building when the observatory was being built, more for safety reasons than the signals causing problem with the machines in the satalite. However, a lot of people heard everything from beyond the area that morning.....and cried when the news of what happen was being reported on all the news programs.
BF4 players be like: "Just like the simulations!"
DUDE, I was about to post something like this.
It's a different array, dude.
@@Carolina_Luke no shit, its still fucking exactly like the map. nobody cares that its not the exact same array.
@illuminerdi 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
LEVOLUTION!!!
“For England James?”
“No, for me”
Best comment ever
Life imitating art. Except without a massive explosion.
dammit you beat me to it
Albeit in the absence of much competition this comment might just be the greatest thing this year. I salute you! 🏅
"Yes! I am invincible!" ⛄
Watching powerful forces at work is always mesmerizing, and there's so much to learn from such fantastic footage. I'm so glad no one was hurt, and the Arecibo Telescope will be very missed.
I'm impressed with how carm and stressless voice Scott maintains throughout the video. 👏😀
Almost everybody else would have had their sensational disaster voice on high.😳
It collapsed in on itself like a dying star. Now that’s an honorable way for a telescope to end its life. R.I.P.
There's nothing very honorable in letting a scientific instrument of this importance to collapse for lack of resources and maintenance.
So it collapsed in on itself in all directions? Wow just like a dying star! 🤪🤪🙁😕
You seem to have an unorthodox view on how the stars collapse.
I agree. This dramatic death has far more honor than a many decades long rusting and decay. Its final moments are exciting and informative.
@Anessen When large stars die, their cores collapse suddenly and violently. The radio receiver, the cables, and the towers did collapse violently due to gravity, so the analogy is appropriate enough.
A lot of us were emotionally invested in this place, Scott. Personally, I recall seeing Arecebo listed as the source of data my computers were processing for SETI at Home. Our sentimental connections to the place were deep. It's good you covered it, man.
Ditto! I was in starting on May 31 of 1999. Over a half million hours of CPU time on the Classic version and 15million credits on the last version.
" has participated in the SETI@home project since 1 June 1999, and has contributed 15,088,464 Cobblestones of computation (13.04 quintillion floating-point operations) and 90407 Classic workunits to SETI@home's search for extraterrestrial life.
Dr. Eric J. Korpela
Director, SETI@home
7 December 2020 "
Everybody is talking about the perfect timing of the drone operator, but there's some next-level camera work going on too. Zooming out when the action starts happening... Panning left and right to get the full breadth of the action without oversteering... Most drone operators don't have the skill to handle live, unexpected action shots like this. I'm glad this pilot was there for this shot.
You: "I have never seen a cable snap so close"
Battlefield4 players: First time?
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. I had the exact same thought :)
@@AcuraAddicted your a savage for this one bro hahahaha hell yeah!!!!
Soooo many c4
If I hadn't seen the news story and just saw the photo I probably would think its battlefield at a quick glance.
Haha snipers walking in the cable go brrrrrr
Its heart breaking to see something that old, legendary and valuable just collapse through pure lack of will, money and maintenance. so sad. 73 Arecibo !!
As a (very) amateur astronomer, it wasn't until my early 20s, c. 1998, that I began to full appreciate the enormous value of radio astronomy.
Yes, here in the UK, we have our own venerable Jodrell Bank, specifically the Lovell Telescope.
But although it has been somewhat superceded by the much larger dish in China, Arecibo holds a very special place, especially given how many Nobel Prizes were awarded based off of research conducted using it ...
My hope is the the entire global astronomical community unites, and raises the money necessary to not only restore, but upgrade, it, as it is an even more important telescope than even the VLA, in New Mexico ...
... and that is saying something ...
But, yes; I share your sentiment. There was something utterly gut-wrenching to watch, helplessly, the collapse, and it was also heartbreaking. That it was allowed to decay, quite likely due to insufficient funding to replace the decaying cables, and possibly the suspension towers too, in hindsight, it was almost inevitable it was going to collapse.
Whether or not politics gets out of the way of science, and the funding for not just the repair, and even upgrading, of such a venerable scientific instrument, is a huge unknown ...
... but I truly hope so, especially if Puerto Rico relies heavily on tourism, and the impact on the local economy by having so many scientists work there, for many weeks at a time, perhaps would be sufficient incentive ...
... but who the hell knows ...
@@nigelft Restoring Arecibo will be a huge task. Not only will the towers have to be rebuilt to be up to scratch with modern construction standards, those towers were from the 1960s, but the entire dish is likely needed to be replaced from the amount of damage it took from the rest of the telescope, its components and support cables.
However, as sad as this event was, in the future once funding is available, there is a good possibility Arecibo could be rebuilt. There is a larger dish in China yes, but it is unable to transmit, nor does it cover the same wavelength's Arecibo could.
A new central platform could be built with state-of-the-art materials to make it as light as possible. More facilities could become available. There are so many possibilities that are possible with a rebuild. That central platform weighs 900 tons, equivalent of 8.8 MN's of force. With new materials, that could be slashed dramatically, reducing the strain on new cabling.
I'm only 16 years old, but I am fascinated by the scientific world and hearing about this observatory, the one that transmitted the Arecibo message, was very disheartening to hear about. But, with all things built, especially held up by tension, it must eventually come down.
This could be seen as a new era of Arecibo, as they have the opportunity to make things even better than they once were. If you've ever seen inside of the control room they look like they're running computer systems from a long while back, presumably to operate the old thing.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. =)
@@atomfusion231 The problem I see with rebuilding it is that it is probably cheaper to build it somewhere else from scratch than to clean up the remains.
@@fededevi1985 Its subjective. Arecibo already has the main dish, all it needs is some patching up and some maintenance. (Yes I know that is a large understatement, considering how much of it was seriously damaged, but my point stands) The clean-up will likely be supported by the locals and the local government. Its really about whether enough money would be available to rebuilt the central platform. Building an entire dish would cost more, as you'd need to build the dish, build the offices and roads and more. Arecibo is also already located inside of a administered quiet zone, so finding a new spot could prove tricky. Honestly, I don't know. It really comes down to whether the federal government can set aside enough money to even partially begin a rebuild. Arecibo does have more experiments, so they can continue to operate, but without the main telescope their reach is severely diminished.
@@fededevi1985 it definitely isn't, gotta assess new sites for noise etc (feasibility), clear land, environmental impact surveys..
But I'm also not an astronomer so I don't think unlimited tax money should be thrown at every kind of science imaginable.
That money comes from real people, people struggling to make ends meet to begin with.
Special projects like this should come solely through fundraising, and if that can't be done then there's not the will to do it.
I know astronomers will disagree because that's all they care about, but literally stealing money from people to spend on what you feel is important, instead of letting them make their own choices on how their money should be spent, is plain wrong.
It's easy to think it isn't when you're reasonably well off, though.. but what about single parents supporting children on 50k a year because their spouse died, and other people barely making ends meet? It's not right to spend their money on projects like this and say "it's for their own good, it's a shame they're too ignorant to see it"
Gotta love all the one-sidedness in every persons thinking and political beliefs nowadays.
2:24 "glorious monument of science"
also me
"wow battlefield 4 map"
Ps I'm actually sad it got destroyed and glad no one was hurt
What's crazy is, the collapse of the array in BF4 took place in the year 2020, and it fell in almost the same place/manner...
So, does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?
Well its time to build an other one, every ending is a beginning of sg else
@@darlawrence9295 I can only imagine it wasn't worth their resources. I can't think of any other reason...
@@darlawrence9295 lack of resources and funds, the first cable broke at the start of the pandemic and, like everything else, the replacement was severely delayed. Then the second one broke and we know how it ends.
@@the_wretched Additionally, Siege of Shanghai has displays in the collapsible building that show various scientists working with petri discs, wearing masks aswell. 🤔
This was one of my favorite structures around the world. I grew up near it, in my hometown of Lares, PR. When I was like 5 y/o my father had a booklet in black and white that showed the technology and it's purpose (I think). I was too little to understand then. I miss that thing!
“For England, James?”
“No. For me.”
Goldeneye...... no one got it.
Thankfully it missed Sean Bean this time.
Boris: I am Invincible 😂
Lol😂
I was thinking about this, with the GoldenEye 007 N64 (Nintendo64) game.
Look on youtube for GoldenEye N64 mission 7: Cradle.
Very old game, but it was really fun to unlock all the extra stuff, and then use that with a 4 player Team Deathmatch (2 vs 2). Would have been really fun with more players, same with MarioKart 64 Deathmatch, both were really good games. Some other types were also, like Starfox 64, but Mariokart 64 never got old in Deathmatch with 4 players.
I remember the proximity mines in GoldenEye 007 N64, when it was 4 players. lol
When 2 other players had taken the bathroom and waited, my teammate would run into the bathroom after respawning, every time and continue to respawn. lol
I would run in there and look at the other team's viewports on the screen, just to run around them constantly while they tried to shoot me, they could not figure out how I was doing that. lol
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I would give links, but it would seem that Scott doesn't allow links under his videos, or my comments go hidden.
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Battlefield 4: Has this as a map
Battlefield 4: Set in 2020
Battlefield 4: Has telescope collapse easter egg
bruh
Creators of Telescope: “This will allow discovery and study of E.T.”
Arecibo Telescope: “I will allow studies of lode-bearing cable failure.”
It was not an easter egg tho
It was levolution
This is all I can think of while watching this
True but its smaller and higher but yes basically same.
Nevermind it shows the bottom part.
DICE please....
Iconic landmark. I remember James Bond and Alec fought on this. Also called "The Cradle" on Nintendo 64's Goldeneye.
Sean Bean dies again!
Nostalgia
I wish I'd played what you played to know that
But I'm a little zoomer
We will see this video over and over in class. Incredible structure, almost unbelievable that it ever existed. Maintenance on something like this is almost impossible. We see many super structures like this having the same problem, we cant figure out how to maintain them properly. I'm glad we had a drone in the sky to watch these cables let go. That is an extremely rare thing to witness in the real world
2020: A year that will live in infamy.
That's for damn sure.
Bf4
Idk cyber punk is finally coming out so it’s not That bad
Just wait till you see what 2021 has in store.
Its not over yet
Me a battlefield player "wait I've seen this one before"
A few hundred times
James Bond has seen that too
It's funny, on that day of the collapsed, I replayed battlefield 4 since 2018 and i played rogue transmission, and also brought down the dish...
Not saying I'm the cause...
Battlefront*
@@zchms9273 battlefield**
Boris: "YES! I AM INVINCIBLE!"
Immediately frozen lol
*Gets frozen to death.
Cold humor
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Excellent reporting Scott... a job well done. I am so disheartened after hearing about this. I had no clue this happened. Shame.
"controlled demolition by cutting budget"
Criminal lack of basic maintenance.
I have an idea.
Will Mr. Elon Musk please pick up a house phone. There is an important call for Mr. Elon Musk. Once again, will Mr. Elon Musk please pick up a house phone.
And for a longgggg time if nobody saw this coming.
@@puppetsock A little late to save it. Besides, Musk have been preoccupied with SpaceX and Tesla.
@@jeffreylemal7432 stop spreading that myth... Basic maintenance was fully up to spec
Atleast noone will camp up there for the rest of this round
Campers amirite
They need to sell parts as souvenirs to fund a new project(s)
I would buy one
@@rik8508 I can sell you a piece.
^^^Cue all the artifact poachers picking it's bones clean for a quick buck...
Here’s a piece of steel from it.... nobody’s going to buy junk.
You just won the 'Today's Most Stupid Internet Comment' Award. Well done. And that's even after you edited it ( XD) means you have a great chance of winning the 'Most Stupid Internet Comment of the Decade' Award too. The struggle and toil all your ancestors went through to make this possible, just for you, was sooo worth it.
Understand even with the delay of cables breaking this fell at 32 feet a second with about only 16 ft due to the acceleration curve in the first second. So the fact it took a few seconds for the main fall , not counting all the action & reaction movement and continued catastrophic explosive failures afterwards. The sheer amount of energy released that was under load massive and went from stored static to dynamic is amazing.
As a lover of astronomy, that really hurt to watch.
As a lover of astronomy and a Puerto Rican, it hurt so much, considering what he said toward the end about politics in PR and any plans to fix/replace it. Without external help (that probably won’t come because we’re not all that important of a US territory), we definitely wouldn’t be able to with our economy where it is right now (the island’s not the US’s).
@@Mikeological While I am sorry the telescope was lost, it is unlikely it would have been saved even if it were on the mainland. The Arecibo Observatory had at most four months (from August 2020 when the first cable broke) until December 1, 2020 to do the large scale construction necessary to remove the platform before fixing or replacing the cables. Even with funding, successful repair probably wasn't going to happen in that time frame.
Consider what happened/was narrowly avoided at the Oroville Dam. The Oroville Dam in California opened the same year as Arecibo Observatory in 1963. The projects were of similar scale. In 2017, Oroville Dam's concrete spillway (used for overflow water in years of heavy rain) failed. A massive stream of water started eating away at the hillside that formed part of the dam. Fortunately, shortly after the spillway failure, the rain stopped in California and the next year (2018) was dry. Dumb luck is what saved the Oroville Dam. They BARELY replaced the concrete spillway by the rainy season in 2019. So, two years to fix.
@@emawerna yeah that’s definitely true, but whatever chance it has of getting repaired would arguably be at least somewhat higher if it were in the states. Fair point though that it wouldn’t be much better unless it were near Houston or something where it would feel almost synonymous to JSC (in terms of symbolic value on top of its functionality) to a lot of people here (I know it wouldn’t be the best place with all the light pollution but you get the point haha).
I’m not complaining about where PR ranks in the mainland’s priorities though, I know it wouldn’t make sense for it to be treated like a state if it’s just a territory (even the statehood thing is definitely not gonna happen any time soon, if at all)
I went there when I was a little kid, the view from the observation deck was impressive. I'm glad I got to visit at least once in my life
Every time I see the footage a piece of my heart breaks
Bring back Arecibo!
Oh wow! Just finding out this happened today (12/15) Simply incredible video. How did this not make the news?!?!?
The news doesn’t care about real science.
@@TommyT777 They did when I was a kid in the 1970's and 80's.
@@dexterricketts8490 I can remember the tail end of that as a toddler. What a glorious time. I’m disappointed with how much the big educational channels and news have gradually reduced their content to view-pandering. I remember staring at animations of molecular structures for hours on Knowledge (or something) as a kid.
Handled with sensitivity and professionalism.
Why I like this channel so very much
But not in the comments 🤣
Thanks for all the time and effort to make these videos Scott.
It’s as if Arecibo said “You can’t demolish me! I’ll demolish myself!”.
Its very own Big Bang!
Actually, having it fall without any injuries must have been a big relief for the staff on site.
They saw the cables breaking away little by little, and there wasn't much they could do safely.
You can't fire me, I quit!
Was that the observatory used in Goldeneye?
I guess everyone saw that coming considering the maintenance issues.
...considering BF4 predicted it years ago.
I knew this looked familiar
The "maintenance issues" were deliberate, the staff has been pleading for adequate funding to repair the damage of the 2013 hurricane since it happened. Instead the anti-science party in Congress actually **reduced** the maintenance budget. This was not an "accident", this was part of their plan.
@@cuscof2 An administration that doesn't believe in science. Imagine that?
@@xrpuertorican4472 Never thought I'd see the day when a stint working at the White House would be seen as a resume stain.