2020 is not done yet. The Arecibo Telescope is lost.

[ldev]

Dramatic reenactment:

[Ihavewaffles]

Amazing how you managed to cram such a colossal amount of ignorance into such a short post. The telescope wasn't devoted exclusively to searching for alien life. Since you are apparently too lazy to even look it up on Wikipedia, I'll help you out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecib...nd_discoveries

So outside some limited mil intelligence about satellites during the cold war, it's basically of no practical use.

Unless we discover interstellar travel what use is the telescope?

Oh noes it's so crucial for 2020 that we know about this neutron star a gazillion lightyears away, whatever will we do now...

[ldev]

So outside some limited mil intelligence about satellites during the cold war, it's basically of no practical use.

Unless we discover interstellar travel what use is the telescope?

Oh noes it's so crucial for 2020 that we know about this neutron star a gazillion lightyears away, whatever will we do now...

https://www.space.com/arecibo-observ...ense-asteroids

Oh noes, big rocks hitting earth only wiped dinosaurs, good thing we're not dinosaurs! Research and experimentation is useless, bring back < 3 year life expectancy for diabetics, I'm with you!

Wanna hang out l8r and burn some 5G towers?

[Ihavewaffles]

https://www.space.com/arecibo-observ...ense-asteroids

Oh noes, big rocks hitting earth only wiped dinosaurs, good thing we're not dinosaurs! Research and experimentation is useless, bring back < 3 year life expectancy for diabetics, I'm with you!

Wanna hang out l8r and burn some 5G towers?

Dude, way to prove my point, put the cart before the horse. We have no defenses against space rocks now or in the near future short of daydreams n hollywood movies.

You say I'm against research cuz I don't care about having a bloated budget for useless crap?

Meanwhile the international space station is falling apart to lack of funding. It's just the only practical use in existence for human presence in space n we need it for continued presence. Other options are subpar future stations.

But oh noes, we need to save a goddamn antena to find out about this star on the other side of the galaxy..

[ldev]

Dude, way to prove my point, put the cart before the horse. We have no defenses against space rocks now or in the near future short of daydreams n hollywood movies.

You say I'm against research cuz I don't care about having a bloated budget for useless crap?

Meanwhile the international space station is falling apart to lack of funding. It's just the only practical use in existence for human presence in space n we need it for continued presence. Other options are subpar future stations.

But oh noes, we need to save a goddamn antena to find out about this star on the other side of the galaxy..

Knowledge is useless, do we even want to know if an asteroid is on it's way and in 2 years we'll blow up? Ignorance is bliss and vaccines cause autism. Bye. Unless you want to protest against chemtrails l8r, I'm up m8.

[Ihavewaffles]

Knowledge is useless, do we even want to know if an asteroid is on it's way and in 2 years we'll blow up? Ignorance is bliss and vaccines cause autism. Bye. Unless you want to protest against chemtrails l8r, I'm up m8.

You think its the only way to track space rocks? 2nd, you can't do shit. If a dino-rock is here in 2 years WE CAN'T STOP IT, our tech is far too primitive.

I'd rather not know the date I die, thankyouverymuch.

[Felya]

You think its the only way to track space rocks? 2nd, you can't do shit. If a dino-rock is here in 2 years WE CAN'T STOP IT, our tech is far too primitive.

I'd rather not know the date I die, thankyouverymuch.

Uhm... wouldn’t having research derived from this, help us develop technology to stop an asteroid? If a doctor tells you that you will die in 2 years, if you don’t change your life style... do you get pissed at the doctor for telling you when you will die? Is that a ration reaction to such news?

[RadasNoir]

How is this a loss? Unless ur a supernerd or some tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist thinking Marsians are trying to send messages, what is the point of this giant waste of money? People who want it should pay for it themselves. Has it ever done anything of value?

People like you are the reason why humanity is going to die out on this God-forsaken rock.

[Ihavewaffles]

People like you are the reason why humanity is going to die out on this God-forsaken rock.

No, people who waste money on pet projects instead of prioritized neccessary spending, will do that.

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Uhm... wouldn’t having research derived from this, help us develop technology to stop an asteroid? If a doctor tells you that you will die in 2 years, if you don’t change your life style... do you get pissed at the doctor for telling you when you will die? Is that a ration reaction to such news?

Oh, you think science is magic, they can conjure up what you want like ur Aladdin with the genie doing ur bidding...

Buddy, we only are able to see a small fraction of space around us, that's why the last few years we hear of giant rocks we didn't even know were there weeks if not days in our vicinity. Space is dark af

We don't have a solar system wide array of satellites, space stations etc to track shit

2nd we got Russian old rockets generations n new ones are not a huge leap for russia nor america's that are bought soviet rocket tech..

There's no such propulsion that u could send a missile with explosions or whatever gadget in a fast velocity like some damn cruise missile after a target. We are talking about speeds beyond current human tech that would need to close a gap otherwise the debris could hit earth n do even more damage...

If a dino rock comes in 2 years, if all resources n scientists came together, they would conclude we r f00ked...our bombs are too small, our lazers suck

Development time takes far too long.

Lastly we cannot accurately determine exact composition of those rocks, If ur digging a tunnel n gonna explode a hole, you need to find out what is thete, you might have a rough idea, but blowing up a space rock the last thing u need is too small an explosion...

We needs the means, n u guys worry about observation..survivsl is only possible through tech that already exists, which we haven't even started on..but ur concerned about finding ET..

[Afrospinach]

Uhm... wouldn’t having research derived from this, help us develop technology to stop an asteroid? If a doctor tells you that you will die in 2 years, if you don’t change your life style... do you get pissed at the doctor for telling you when you will die? Is that a ration reaction to such news?

AFAIK the only "unique" capability of this telescope in that regard is it can "laser range find" asteroids - that you already knew were there. It is shit for actually discovering them thanks to the narrow field of view. Space is pretty big.

[Felya]

No, people who waste money on pet projects instead of prioritized neccessary spending, will do that.

So... money is not the root of all evil?

Oh, you think science is magic, they can conjure up what you want like ur Aladdin with the genie doing ur bidding...

No, I don’t think magic is science, I think magic is vernacular. I think if your view of science was part of common vernacular, the world would magically be a far more destitute of a place.

Buddy, we only are able to see a small fraction of space around us, that's why the last few years we hear of giant rocks we didn't even know were there weeks if not days in our vicinity. Space is dark af

I’m not your buddy, pal. Do you complain that a flashlight doesn’t work, when it doesn’t light up the entire world?

We don't have a solar system wide array of satellites, space stations etc to track shit

Indeed, it’s why losing that little that what we have, is so tragic.

2nd we got Russian old rockets generations n new ones are not a huge leap for russia nor america's that are bought soviet rocket tech..

Do you think rockets and telescopes, are the same thing?

There's no such propulsion that u could send a missile with explosions or whatever gadget in a fast velocity like some damn cruise missile after a target. We are talking about speeds beyond current human tech that would need to close a gap otherwise the debris could hit earth n do even more damage...

That’s great... I didn’t say we had it... I said help develop. The technology we need will not come out of ones vernacular. It takes more than words...

If a dino rock comes in 2 years, if all resources n scientists came together, they would conclude we r f00ked...our bombs are too small, our lazers suck

What?

Development time takes far too long.

Maybe we should have more resources, to expand our understanding... not less resources to contract it. As I said, solutions don’t come from vernacular... they come from time and resources. Something that increases on both ends, with funding for more people to increase time and more tools to increase capacity.

Lastly we cannot accurately determine exact composition of those rocks, If ur digging a tunnel n gonna explode a hole, you need to find out what is thete, you might have a rough idea, but blowing up a space rock the last thing u need is too small an explosion...

If you are trying to convince me that we need more telescopes and more scientist, you are doing a very good job.

We needs the means, n u guys worry about observation..survivsl is only possible through tech that already exists, which we haven't even started on..but ur concerned about finding ET..

Our concern seems to be hyperbole, to downplay existing technology being wasted...

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AFAIK the only "unique" capability of this telescope in that regard is it can "laser range find" asteroids - that you already knew were there. It is shit for actually discovering them thanks to the narrow field of view. Space is pretty big.

Irrelevant, it’s like arguing that losing a screwdriver bit is meaningless, because it’s not used often. You still lost the screwdriver bit... that’s a silly thing to just ignore.

[Orange Joe]

No, people who waste money on pet projects instead of prioritized neccessary spending, will do that.

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Oh, you think science is magic, they can conjure up what you want like ur Aladdin with the genie doing ur bidding...

Buddy, we only are able to see a small fraction of space around us, that's why the last few years we hear of giant rocks we didn't even know were there weeks if not days in our vicinity. Space is dark af

We don't have a solar system wide array of satellites, space stations etc to track shit

2nd we got Russian old rockets generations n new ones are not a huge leap for russia nor america's that are bought soviet rocket tech..

There's no such propulsion that u could send a missile with explosions or whatever gadget in a fast velocity like some damn cruise missile after a target. We are talking about speeds beyond current human tech that would need to close a gap otherwise the debris could hit earth n do even more damage...

If a dino rock comes in 2 years, if all resources n scientists came together, they would conclude we r f00ked...our bombs are too small, our lazers suck

Development time takes far too long.

Lastly we cannot accurately determine exact composition of those rocks, If ur digging a tunnel n gonna explode a hole, you need to find out what is thete, you might have a rough idea, but blowing up a space rock the last thing u need is too small an explosion...

We needs the means, n u guys worry about observation..survivsl is only possible through tech that already exists, which we haven't even started on..but ur concerned about finding ET..

Your ignorance is showing. With enough warning you only need to put a small object near it to change it's trajectory enough to miss earth.

[Ticj]

Knowing this, they should have maintained it better or had a plan B.

Blame the politicians for that. They've been criminally underfunded for years, they could hardly afford to keep it running.

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How is this a loss? Unless ur a supernerd or some tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist thinking Marsians are trying to send messages, what is the point of this giant waste of money? People who want it should pay for it themselves. Has it ever done anything of value?

When you have a civilization start dismissing science and technological progress as a waste of time and money, they don't tend to last much longer after that. The Arrecibo telescope was heavily used by Astronomers for radio astronomy, and was one of the only telescopes usable for that purpose. With the loss of this telescope, some frequencies of our sky are not able to be looked at. Not only that, there is only so much time in a day that science can be done, and many scientists want observations of different things for their research, so now observations must be picked much more harshly, restricting the research that can be done on the sky.

Astronomy is not a useless science, it is a major tool for understanding physics which gives us results back here at home.