Hacker News

US–Indian space mission maps extreme subsidence in Mexico City

36 points by leopoldj 3 days ago | 10 comments

So, perhaps a dumb question, but the article mentions that 14 steps have been added to the base of the Angel of Independence monument, and the Wikipedia article mentions the same things:

> Originally, nine steps led to the base, but due to the sinking of the ground, an ongoing problem in Mexico City, fourteen more steps have been added.

So why didn't the monument itself also sink? Does it have piles going down to bedrock or something?

wartywhoa23 37 minutes ago

Angels don't sink, they rise! :)

AntiUSAbah 29 minutes ago

Depending of what stories you want to reference with this: Lucifer, Belial, Beelzebub all did not 'rise'.

pcrh 9 minutes ago

The amount of subsidence is quite dramatic, up to 25 cm per year!

What are the practical consequences of this today, and what is being done to remedy this?

gurjeet 2 hours ago

For the uninitiated, ISRO -> Indian Space Research Organization

anigbrowl 2 hours ago

I get that the article is primarily about the satellite capabilities, but it's rather annoying it doesn't mention what the future impact of the subsidence might be.

greggsy 59 minutes ago

I think that it’s quite responsible not to speculate on something they’re not an expert on.

It’s exactly the sort of news bite that catastrophists glom onto.

This is responsible journalism.

anigbrowl 3 minutes ago

[delayed]

AntiUSAbah 26 minutes ago

It breaks water lines which increases the water problem even faster. On one side because its expensive to fix and on the other side because small leaks lead to massive water losses you don't find fast or easy.

barney54 27 minutes ago

Nor does it say how much subsidence the satellite documented.

barbazoo 19 minutes ago

There's this under the picture.

> New data from NISAR shows where Mexico City and its environs subsided by up to a few centimeters per month (shown in blue) between Oct. 25, 2025, and Jan. 17, 2026

fleroviumna 2 hours ago

[dead]