RE: [ATM] Carbon Fiber for Spider Vanes

["Cary Chleborad" <Cary@Chleborads.com>]

>   As a guess, the lighter you make the scope, the more you concentrate the
> mass in the mirror.


And so we come to the CRUX of telescope mechanics.  The mass of the optics
drive the rest of the telescope structure.  Cut the optical mass by 2/3 and
the rest of the telescope structure follows with huge weight savings and or
performance gains in stiffness. (less supported mass = less flexure for the
same structure).  Not to mention the thermal benefits of low mass optics.

The only trick is to maintain stiffness of the optics while reducing the
mass.

-Cary




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