Liquid telescope for lunar surface studied

[Martin FL]

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/013106a4_angel

[simonbp]

Angel said President Bush's proposal in 2004 to resume manned missions to the moon - which we haven't visited for more than 30 years - was welcome news to him and fellow scientists. "We were thinking of this before that, but when he came out, we were happy.

"This would not be a telescope like the ones in Arizona," Angel said.

Nice touch.

The astronomical community is really going to benefit from the return to the Moon; as long as NASA can get their payloads there, they've find experiments to perform...

Simon

[realtime]

Another cool concept.  I wonder about isolating the device from moonquakes.  600-3000 per year, but generally well below 2.0.

OT - "Discover" magazine had a piece on the Giant Magellan "planet-finder" telescope that Roger Angel's helping to build.  25.4 meters, 7-segment design.  What a monster.

So far they've got $17M of the $500M needed to build it.  Maybe JPL can take that THOR money and stick it over here.

[realtime]

Apparently, vibration matters.  From a spaceref article on some Air Force telescope research.  Gee, what could they be doing with such a big eye in the sky?

Because of the sensitivity of its three optical mirrors, the DOT resided in possibly the quietest confines in the country. To prevent minimal motion and vibration, the laboratory's floor consisted of bedrock with 50 feet of concrete poured on top. During the telescope's inaugural tests, the program added another control system to compensate for other vibrations produced by a construction crew working several feet away from the 1.5 meter structure.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18903