Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know what the purpose of the irregular height columns are under the dish? They appear to be uniform spacing, but not height.

View on HN

Other comment is correct on their purpose https://youtu.be/JjDJLNubKKw?t=259

I don't think any are intentionally different heights. Part of it could be the thing was built nearly 60 years ago but also it doesn't need to be perfectly accurate to securely be tensioned.

I would bet they had a standard construction form (2 meter tall Sonotube, etc) and they simply dug down until they reached the rock and poured the concrete. Like you say, they height doesn't matter since it will be referenced from some other datum.

My guess: currently used as towing points to tension the parabolic structure. You can see some wires in the picture. And probably also a helpful structure during construction.

That makes sense except for the irregular height. If they were all the same, or even if they were roughly parabolic themselves it would make more sense.

Perhaps it's an optical illusion. This photo seems more regular and confirms the tie-down aspect (I'm sure it's how the curvature is maintained).

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com