NASA is soliciting ideas on how to use the two Cold War era telescopes given to the space agency by the military.
NASA is soliciting ideas on how to use the two Cold War era telescopes given to the space agency by the military.
Both telescopes are comparable in size to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
NASA is soliciting ideas on how to use the two Cold War era telescopes given to the space agency by the military.
Both telescopes are comparable in size to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Perhaps they could focus on Washington D.C and determine if there is intelligent life there.
Maybe they can trade them for whatever NERVA plans and hardware are still around.
Make them a huge pair of binoculars. Seriously.
Offer them up as a combined project for astronomy students to work on, then install them on the space station.
They can ask for material donations from companies around the world and then ask for donations to offset the launch cost.
Their combined collecting ability should be pretty good.
And since it will be attached to the station changing out sensor packages, as better ones are offered, should be pretty easy if designed right.
Well at least easier than if it was free floating.
Actually, there are serious technical reasons why a space telescope should not be installed on ISS. The vibrations from the astronauts moving around as well as the minor gas releases from the station itself would make observations difficult if not impossible. This fact was realized many years ago by astronomers while designing the Hubble Space Telescope.
Moreover, putting the telescope on the station would not really be that much easier, and in fact in some ways would be harder. You’d still have to get new instruments into orbit. You’d have to rendezvous and dock with ISS. And you’d still need a spacewalk to install the new instruments, as the telescopes would be quite large and not inside the station. You’d also have the same precise pointing requirements, with the additional requirement of somehow pointing the telescope independent of the orientation of ISS.
Turning the two telescopes into binoculars however is a great idea. See for example the Large Binocular Telescope, already in operation.
I figured the vibrations would have been a problem then, but thought possibly, with todays digital technology, something like frame stabilization would fix it.
But either way keeping them on the ground is not a good idea.