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ATM 8" in space
This question about difference between on Earth verses in
space has a very simple general answer - it depends....
- On the wavelength
- On atmospheric conditions
- On Observational precision requirements
- On magnification
- On demands for life expectancy of scope
- On money
In general, I expect that if you want to put a scope all
the way up in space in some kind of prolonged orbit, you
will be planning a big project. Is there a rationale for
putting a small scope into space for large sums of money?
I might argue that you might have very much to gain IF
you put up a number of smaller scopes which can be used
as an interferometer. I know its being done for radio,
but no idea where this stands for optical. I know that
NASA used to put up the Oscar satellites for radio amateurs.
I do not know what the cargo conditions, etc are nowadays.
I was reading a couple years back through the applications
to put up experiments on-board the space shuttle and
international space station. If someone can make a compelling
argument to do something like a long baseline scope for
amateurs, there might be a chance that Asaf's seemingly simple
question has some real scientific merrit for consideration.
If some people here, including Asaf, wants to get involved in
a space telescope project, I could maybe help write a grant.
There should be a major contribution from some other
scientists in here to justify it. If it worked for Oscar,
I don't see why it could not work in this case. Perhaps
the shuttle payloads are occasionally small enough to fit
in a 16-30" scope but not big enough for Hubble 2. A few kilos
might not be unrealistic to NASA given the enormous PR
potential potential this could have. I would be more concerned
with organizing money, time and brains to build an amateur
space scope.
Cheers,
Dominic
North 59 37' 30"
East 17 48' 10"
_______________________________________
Dominic-Luc Webb, doktorand
Lab:
Department of Molecular Medicine
Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit
Rolf Luft Center for Diabetes Research
Karolinska Hospital L6B:01
S-17176 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: Int+46-8-517-75727
Fax: Int+46-8-517-73658
Home:
Tingvallav. 88, 1 tr
195 32 Märsta
Sweden
Tel/Data/Fax: Int+46-8-591-27121 (UNIX dialin server)
Internet Email: dominic@enk.ks.se
Fidonet Netmail: 2:201/645.13
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