Glasfaserkabel

At about 3:30 AM PST on 27 February an optical fiber cable connecting the U.C. Berkeley campus with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was cut, apparently by vandals trying to »salvage« copper from other nearby cables.

The broken fiber carries data and voice connections for LBNL and also for the Space Sciences Lab and the Lawrence Hall of Science. SSL is where the SETI@Home project is located, so the millions of participants helping to analyze data have been unable to contact the SETI@Home servers ever since.

Repairs were supposed to be completed late today, but have been delayed due to the rain last night. Apparently the rain, mud, and steep terrain combined to prevent the contractors from bringing their equipment to the repair site.