I like this picture, actually. Just like America, the slavs are squatting in the remains of (apparently) a greater civilization. For years they had ONE An225, renting it out and promising they'd finish building the second air frame they inherited. That never happened, of course. Every year this big POS would make the rounds, while Antonov would promise it would make more of them - *or at the very least, finish the one they had that was "70% complete"*. I should mourn the loss of a treasure, sure, but there's something so ignoble about keeping a machine like this going when its owners can't figure out how their fathers built it to begin with. Neither side of the conflict has been able/willing/funded enough to build a replacement for this, and instead of telling the truth (it's useless aside from the gee-whiz factor) they would pretend they could still do it any day they felt like it. Someday we'll see american C-5s in the boneyard in similar fashion, and I'll feel the same: ***A government does not deserve what it cannot maintain***

> US sponsors pointless nerd hobby for millions as a way to stimulate 3rd world economy > Cool engineering project a prestige piece for west > "we got two nobel prizes out of it!!!" said today as if that justifies the money spent > 60 years go by, nobody cares, it doesn't make any tangible changes in the average taxpayer's life > Tourist trap for puerto rico, but NASA wants to spend money elsewhere for newer nerd projects > Funding stops, facility on its own > Everything immediately snaps, destroying the whole thing "no the pride of Puerto Rico! It's gone! But you should be careful, you crackers are always stealing native lands for your projects - wait no come back we want your prestige projects in our lands come on we need the free stuff it's cool and it makes us feel fancy don't make us squat in these ruins!!!"

Not a single penny more should be spent building ground-based telescopes by anyone ever.

It is an outdated concept but most of these projects were planned before the hubble telescope

The old ones, of course. But everything new should be in space. Even radio telescopes. Especially radio telescopes.

Radio telescopes would be extremely expensive. The only practical orbit would be a distant earth orbit because of the danger of space shrapnel damaging the radar dish (or equivalent) on the satellite

You're thinking it would be a huge, hulking structure like an earth-based telescope. In space, it could just be a kilometer-wide sparse net of fine wire. It would weigh next to nothing compared to its size. Rumor has it there are already spy satellites with that general construction.

also even if you were to bring such a station down to a reasonable size it doesn't stop it from being a radar tower in space that everyone can see

Militaries can see it. They wouldn't talk about it because that would tip their hand about what their observation capabilities are. Just looking at the launch vehicles and retired historic designs, spy satellites are YUGE.

Its not militaries that can see it. it is everyone. that why the US military couldnt block the use of GPS only scramble the code

YOU DONT FUCKING NEED HIGH PRECISION RADAR TO DETECT NEAR EARTH SATELITTES. IF YOU HAD IN THEORY A STLEATH SATELLITE IN LOW EARTH ORBIT IT WOULD JUST BE AS USELESS TO THE HOME NATION AS IT WOULD BE AS DETECTABLE

Detect the existence of? no. Determine the size of? yes.

I hate talking to normies about space detection.

THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN HIDE THE SIZE OF A SATELLITE. PEOPLE WOULD JUST USE THE SILHEOTEE TO DETERMINE THE SIZE

The silhouette of a thin wire mesh is basically non-existent. A thin wire mesh in space is basically invisible. You don't need much surface area to reflect or detect radio waves.

@gentoobro@gleasonator.com @Groomschild@poa.st @WashedOutGundamPilot@poa.st chat, if a thin wire mesh is formed into something useful for reflecting radio waves.......it's gonna reflect radio waves

Bad news Chattini, my plan to escape detection by the Illuminati by covering myself in tinfoil and launching myself into low Earth orbit isn't going to work.