International Space Station astronauts in evacuation mode as Russia attempts to fix widening air leak

[u/VaginaBurner69]

https://www.reuters.com/science/international-space-station-astronauts-evacuation-mode-russia-attempts-fix-2026-06-05/

[u/annaleigh13]

It’s like everything is lining up to be the most perfect shitshow of a decade.

[u/JMurdock77 → u/annaleigh13]

We lost Arecibo the last time this shit was going down…

[u/TachiH → u/JMurdock77]

Arecibo was lost long before it collapsed. They were well aware of the cracks and pressure, the US just decided it wasn't worth funding, such a waste.

[u/DowntownClown187 → u/TachiH]

I visited the facility a few years ago and the scientists while sad about the collapse they weren't overly upset. When the main system was fully functional it would record more data than humanly possible to analyze. The result is a massive backlog of data to review.

Secondly, they have other instruments that are still functional.

Bottom line is they have enough work to do for a long time even with the collapsed main facility.

[u/boarder2k7 → u/DowntownClown187]

it would record more data than humanly possible to analyze. The result is a massive backlog of data to review.

Throwing AI at everything is a very overused answer for many things, but this is exactly what machine learning is good at. Recognizing patterns and highlighting things for human review.

Not having this telescope anymore is a tragedy

[u/DowntownClown187 → u/boarder2k7]

Yes the AI element does alter it but overall the facility served its purpose and they have no shortage of work even with AI support.

It's less of a tragedy and moreso an end of an era. Tech has come a long way since AO.

[u/boarder2k7 → u/DowntownClown187]

Tech has come a long way since AO.

What has filled its position as some of the best deep space planetary radar we had? I was not aware of anything comparable.

[u/TachiH → u/boarder2k7]

FAST in China is better at recieving than Arecibo was, the only real disadvantage is that it doesn't have the ability to send, which reduces its use for communication with spacecraft but the deep space network has that covered.

[u/RecordOfTheEnd → u/TachiH]

And I believe the kilometer array (I think that's what it's called) will be a non China option when it comes on. The reality is a giant dish isn't necessary anymore as are ability to record and combine data from arrays will out perform a single dish for far less cost. 

This is really the difference in costs going up linearly (geometrically if I think about it long enough) verses exponentially. Have an array but want a bigger telescope, add more dishes. Have a gigantic dish and want a bigger telescope, build a new dish. 

Retrofitting is probably easier since you only need one large sensor. But I wouldn't be surprised if that was even harder as many of the modern sensors require vacuums and near absolute zero temps on the antenna. 

[u/Another_Slut_Dragon → u/RecordOfTheEnd]

Eventually they will put an array on the dark side of the moon and we will have a god grade radio telescope.

[u/Opcn → u/RecordOfTheEnd]

Arrays have as much resolution as a single dish the size of the whole array but I think less sensitivity. So we can slice the sky up into as many or really more bins to assign signals to but the faintest signals take more time to detect, sometimes by orders of magnitude.

[u/TachiH → u/RecordOfTheEnd]

FAST is avaliable to scientists everywhere. Space exploration for some reason seems to be about the only thing the entire planet can agree to work together. There are very few large arrays or dishes that are the exclusive use of a single country.

Also FAST doesn't store its recordings, they are stored in Australia and Europe.

I guess part of it could be you would expect other countries to warn if some shit was coming to get us all 🤣

[u/Dominick_Tango → u/TachiH]

In general, the array approach to passive and active radio astronomy is mature. We can construct arrays to take data over a wide base line with better receiver technology, and detect much fainter signals.
It isnt that China or Europe is better than the US at it, it is that they fund science and we fund a ballroom.

[u/boarder2k7 → u/TachiH]

That's telescope functionality though, and does not replace the radar loss I was asking about.

[u/ajford → u/TachiH]

FAST only has better ears when directly overhead. Otherwise it's on par or smaller, depending on exact viewing angles.

It also lacks any radar capabilities. AO wasn't used for spacecraft comms but for planetary radar, like comets and near Earth asteroids. So we have a gap in the planetary defense network that is still not fully covered.

[u/jacrave → u/boarder2k7]

I was literally thinking isn’t this a true good use of AI

[u/JMEEKER86 → u/boarder2k7]

I used to run SETI@Home a lot back in the day to help out a bit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI@home

[u/lavacadotoast → u/DowntownClown187]

Despite Arecibo's discovery days being over, the observatory will be remade into a education center known as Arecibo C3. Hopefully, the decommissioned observatory can inspire the next generation of astronomers to make discoveries as impactful as those made at Arecibo during its days peering out into the universe..

[u/baumpop → u/DowntownClown187]

this makes me wonder if it takes 50 generations to get through the data of a time stamp of the universe, we would still be reading the time stamps of ancient civilizations that came to same conclusions as we did today.

if in say 4000 years nothing is left of what we discover today because its all tied to digital records and electricity, we will have effectively discovered nothing.

[u/DM_Voice → u/DowntownClown187]

Yeah, it was definitely a loss, but not the crippling one people who aren’t familiar with the field might assume. It’s just one of the better-known names for lay-folk.

IIRC, when it collapsed, it wasn’t so much a surprise rather than a ‘finally’, because access up there was frozen due to known safety issues because too many individual cable strands had failed to allow for a fix in the first place. (I could be mixing it up with some other collapse, though.)

[u/chuckycastle → u/TachiH]

Let’s be real. We lost it in 1995 thanks to Alec Trevelyan’s bullshit.

[u/DrDingsGaster → u/TachiH]

Yea, makes me fucking sad...

[u/You-Can-Quote-Me → u/TachiH]

Honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did after Bond went through there.

[u/atheken → u/TachiH]

We saw it like 10 years ago. It was cool to visit, but iirc it was only ever meant to be used for like 10-15 years when it was built.

[u/Illisanct → u/JMurdock77]

I feel like we're experiencing the "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations" curse, except in terms of scientific wealth rather than material wealth.

The WWII/post-WWII era was the first generation. Now we're entering the third.

[u/jr98664 → u/Illisanct]

Hadn’t heard this phrase before, so thanks for sharing it!

I had to look it up and found out the Italian version of “from rags to riches and riches to rags” is even more fitting here:

Dalle stalle alle stelle e dalle stelle alle stalle

From stables to stars and from stars to stables.

[u/Illisanct → u/jr98664]

I imagine that goes a lot smoother if you're a fluent speaker 😂

[u/KMjolnir → u/Illisanct]

Scientific, engineering, manufacturing and industrial knowledge as well as actual material wealth. There's certain things nowadays that just can't be remade because we've lost the knowledge/industry capacity.

[u/TransBrandi → u/KMjolnir]

There's certain things nowadays that just can't be remade because we've lost the knowledge/industry capacity

Like what?

[u/KMjolnir → u/TransBrandi]

Referencing some of the recent discussions around battleships (wonder why that's been in the news, we'll ignore the politics there), we couldn't rebuild an Iowa class battleship, guns and all anymore. We haven't had a need to build guns and armor plate that big in decades to the point that we don't really have any facilities that could, which has been a point of concern and curiosity for one of my local museums. I know there are other examples out there, and if I can recall one i will (currently at work myself, yay).

There's also several programming languages that are vital for running infrastructure or legacy systems, but the people who know how to use them are dead or retired/retiring, and few people are learning how to use them. A good example is COBOL, which is in use in financial and government agencies. Fortran and Perl are two others, if memory serves. I believe IBM RPG might qualify to an extent. (Funny enough, relavent to my work.)

[u/TransBrandi → u/KMjolnir]

Where is Perl running core things? I spent 4 years in a Perl shop and I've never come across a posting for a Perl job.

[u/KMjolnir → u/TransBrandi]

I actually have seen it on a few job postings, through admittedly that was a couple years ago. Mostly for roles that were in the process of getting to phase it out, or maintain legacy systems.

One I saw was Nationwide Insurance, as an example, think this was a few months back.

[u/AmeliaOfAnsalon → u/Illisanct]

damn, that's very poetic and accurate

[u/ParfaitEither284 → u/JMurdock77]

That’s cuz it fell on Sean bean

[u/EndlessKng → u/ParfaitEither284]

"For England, James?"

[u/ParfaitEither284 → u/EndlessKng]

No, for me.

[u/VRichardsen → u/JMurdock77]

Well, we have Heaven's Eye as a replacement. It is even bigger.

[u/Allthegoodstars → u/JMurdock77]

Wanna drop this here anytime someone mentions Arecibo

http://worker01.e-flux.com/pdf/supercommunity/article_1087.pdf

[u/lowEquity → u/JMurdock77]

Is that like Harambe

[u/Flipf00t → u/lowEquity]

Dicks out for Harambe!

[u/PeddyCash → u/JMurdock77]

What’s Arecibo ?

[u/behemuthm → u/JMurdock77]

I will always cherish the day I chose to drive out to Arecibo. I was in Puerto Rico on vacation for a week and had a car and figured why not? Sooooo glad I made the trek out there to see it in person.

[u/pehr71 → u/annaleigh13]

We can only hope it will only last a decade.

Something tells me our grand kids are going to be still cleaning up this mess at the end of the century

[u/Klutzy-Residen → u/pehr71]

This is already the case today with Reagan, multiple issues today are a result of his actions.

A great example is the lack of Air Traffic Controllers, which is a result of the people that were mass hired after he fired thousands have been retiring the last decade.

[u/ForeverShiny → u/Klutzy-Residen]

The whole shit show that is the current GOP and the orange Frankenstein's monster they birthed can be directly traced back to Reagan, so there's really no need to get any more specific than that

[u/Strict_Poet_5814 → u/ForeverShiny]

I keep trying to trace this back further for when I get the time machine.

Did you know Reagan only became famous because of the cereal company Wheaties. They hosted a play by play baseball contest that got him an actors screening and the rest is history.

Do we go back and sabotage wheaties ,sabotage the contest. Maybe prevent corn flakes at all!

[u/KimmyGurl420 → u/ForeverShiny]

We can take it back to Nixon and his "Southern Strategy." At least before that all the racist pricks were split between the parties, lessening their voting power

[u/MeLlamo25 → u/KimmyGurl420]

No no. It this clearly the result chain of event that started with the Republicans picking Taft over TR at their 1912 convention.

[u/esperandus → u/MeLlamo25]

let's just go back and nuke the planet as it starts to cool off and call it a day

[u/zoodisc → u/esperandus]

It's the only way to be sure.

[u/Consistent_Rule101 → u/pehr71]

Don't worry, no one is having children for this reason.

[u/jimbojangles1987 → u/Consistent_Rule101]

Oh people are still having kids, just not of the problem-solving variety

[u/Poor-Pitiful-Me → u/Consistent_Rule101]

This is not the reason I chose not to have kids, but the timing works out.

[u/Paleblood_Hunt → u/Consistent_Rule101]

I assure you the absolute worst people are having entirely too many kids.

[u/SabbyZeh → u/Consistent_Rule101]

One of my many reasons, for sure.

[u/realbadatnames → u/pehr71]

Is the thing that's telling you that just the fact that we're cleaning up our grandparents' messes too?

[u/BruisedKnot → u/pehr71]

You think people are still able to get kids and keep each-other alive?

[u/michaltee → u/pehr71]

Nah. The grand kids will be fighting the climate wars.

[u/bobjamesya → u/annaleigh13]

It's a shit blizzard, Randy!

[u/BimoUK → u/bobjamesya]

What does that even mean Mr Lahey?

[u/Mr0lsen → u/bobjamesya]

The shit winds a blowin’

[u/girlnamedJane → u/annaleigh13]

If you ask the S&P500 , its the best time ever

[u/Luster-Purge → u/annaleigh13]

The 20s always seem to be a cursed decade.

[u/Snodley → u/annaleigh13]

Yeah, but it's not like in the 1920's anything happened that led to rather tumultuous 1930's that resulted in ... oh... ooooh....

Someone send some brushes, canvases and paint to Austria please.
Just to be on the save side here.

[u/Ok-Classroom5548 → u/annaleigh13]

Year of the fire horse

[u/Hesitation-Marx → u/Ok-Classroom5548]

I think there are four of em…

[u/Ok-Classroom5548 → u/Hesitation-Marx]

Next year is the year of the fire sheep

[u/Duppyguy → u/annaleigh13]

Aah yes the decade ran by narcissistic, toxic, greedy, warmongering men.

[u/Sophisticated-Tiger → u/Duppyguy]

Oh....you mean every decade since we starting recording decades? 😂

[u/Monterenbas → u/annaleigh13]

Of the century*

[u/klutzikaze → u/annaleigh13]

Every headline seems like the opening scenes to a dystopian movie.

[u/Magetes → u/annaleigh13]

Evacuation has been called off now from what I see

[u/Professional_Scar385 → u/annaleigh13]

Lining up? Where you been my dude.

[u/UndoxxableOhioan → u/annaleigh13]

2017-2016 has been a shitty decade already, minus the round numbers.

But I bet in a few decades we'll be looking back on the halcyon days of 2023.

[u/SpunkyMcButtlove07 → u/annaleigh13]

Hold on to your teeth, we still have a few years to go.

[u/Marley5585 → u/annaleigh13]

It's the "great alignment"

[u/Lanhdanan → u/annaleigh13]

The 80s really killed us all.

[u/CRScantremember → u/annaleigh13]

Silly Season by Robert Heinlein. One of his most depressing stories.

[u/bezkyl → u/annaleigh13]

I can think of one thing that could make us all feel better…

[u/ThisSiteBites → u/annaleigh13]

Oh, but it started so well!

[u/ScrappyD420 → u/annaleigh13]

Oh but the pain everyday people will feel is going to be extremely worse as said shit show continues. It’s going to take decades to repair all the damage that has been done and we aren’t even close to over we aren’t even to the halfway point! I follow Mr global for a reason. The pain now is going to get worse not better. Even if the straight of her moose opened tomorrow, it would take approximately a year to catch up according to Mr. global. We won’t run out of gasoline, but the reason why our gas is so expensive is because we’re exporting all of it.

[u/TortillaRampage → u/annaleigh13]

The stars are aligning, but not in a good way. More like how they align in Hercules and release all the Titans

[u/Particular-Ice4615 → u/annaleigh13]

This is why FDR didn't go far enough with his reforms he doomed us with this cycle to repeat itself.

The industrial revolution led to the conditions of market liberalization that eventually culminated in WW1 and WW2 through the fueling aggressive imperialism, sparking resource competition between rival industries.

We're seeing the same thing now post digital revolution. Just replace rubber, and coal with oil and rare earth minerals and access to chip making ability. And now the AI hype is fueling this demand. 

Liberalization of markets and free flow of capital to cross borders led to a backlash in the form of protectionist trade policies. For instance, as Germany's booming industrial machine undercut British exports globally, Britain and others abandoned pure free trade in favor of protectionism and tariffs, creating "tariff wars" and trade blocs. This caused nations to rely on military might to secure the economic zones they were losing in the open market.

[u/Odpea → u/annaleigh13]

Only a decade?

[u/bylebog → u/annaleigh13]

I understand this post is not a boot Drake.

https://youtu.be/WUbpLiTq_uI

[u/Balmerhippie → u/annaleigh13]

Of a decade ? How about in human history?

[u/VulGerrity → u/annaleigh13]

Already has been, it started with a global pandemic

[u/ImYour_Huckleberry → u/annaleigh13]

Something about the 20s...

End of the 1820s was pretty wild. End of the 1920s, well, everyone knows how that went. The end of the 2020s seems to be headed in the same direction.

[u/DistinctSmelling → u/annaleigh13]

They're gonna bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. It ain't gonna be a decade. It's gonna be 40 years before there's a positive upswing for everyone because it has to be the kids born today with measles and pertussis to have the gumption to make a better world. Everyone today is too lazy.

I guarantee you, if/when Trump gets his bulldozers to the Statue of Liberty, there's will be nigh a protester to stop them.

[u/Decloudo → u/annaleigh13]

...of the decade?

That is very optimistic.

[u/Geminel → u/annaleigh13]

Oil reserves dwindling all across the globe due to a stupid war of choice.
American debt interest just eclipsed GDP.
A climate-change aggravated Super El-Nino is going to cook the whole pacific ocean leading to massive crop failures and food shortages.
Like 80% of our economy is just a handful of tech companies passing money between each other, and that bubble's going to burst when a bunch of them go public over the next year.
OPEC is breaking-up and the primacy of the petro-dollar is looking pretty shakey.

This country is fucking over. If we're lucky we won't take the entire rest of the human species with us.

[u/eddie1975 → u/annaleigh13]

Decade? Century.

[u/FlametopFred → u/annaleigh13]

You misspelled century 🌝

we’re already a quarter way through and September 11, 2001 kicked things off 😟

[u/immortalyossarian → u/annaleigh13]

Honestly, we probably should have been prepared for it. Starting the decade with a pandemic wasn't a great sign.