Re: ATM [Fwd: [ASTRO] Mason Dixon Star Party]

["Guy F. Brandenburg" <guyfbran@erols.com>]

Clive wrote:

>     If anyone is interested , the following addy is well worth a look...
> http://snoopy.gsfc.nasa.gov/~lunartel/lun7.html
> >> > research under a grant from NASA. The idea was to develop a lightweight
> >> > mirror for telescopes. The purpose of doing this was to possibly put a
> >> > robotic telescope on the moon as cheaply as possible. What his team
> >> > developed was sheets of carbon fibers saturated with epoxy layed over a
> >> > glass mold. When they dried, the inside surface was refind to a state
> of
> >> > extreme smoothness with lasers. The surface was then coated with the
> >> > reflective material. The result was a very strong and lightweight
> >> > mirror. A 6" prototype was passed around at the meeting. This mirror
> >> > weighed approximately 5 ounces. Larger mirrors are currently in
> >> > production.

I would indeed advise folks to take a look at that web site. It's like science
fiction. Astonishing.Guy