Slashdot Mirror
New Method Discovered For Making Telescopes On the Moon
NASA scientists have discovered a way to craft very large mirrors using carbon nanotubes, some epoxy, a little bit of aluminum, and large quantities of lunar dust. They say the technique will allow the construction of massive telescopes on the moon without the expense and risk of transporting the mirrors from Earth. Douglas Rabin of the Goddard Space Flight Center is quoted saying, "Our method could be scaled-up on the moon, using the ubiquitous lunar dust, to create giant telescope mirrors up to 50 meters in diameter." While this breakthrough was relatively cheap, NASA is currently offering up to $10 million for other good lunar research projects.
This should prove a useful means of allowing whalers on the moon to see their prey, which are mostly stuck on Earth.
using carbon nanotubes, some epoxy, a little bit of aluminum, and large quantities of lunar dust Is there anything he can't do?
"After that, all we needed to do was coat the mirror blank with a small amount of aluminum, and voilÃ, we had a highly reflective telescope mirror," says Rabin.
"If a boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty." (John Boyd, 1927-1997)
Forget your stupid observatory! I'm gonna make my own! With hookers! And blackjack! In fact, forget the observatory!
They'll still need to shuttle boxes of paper clips and rubber bands to the moon so they can make most of the items they need. Thankfully, both are relatively light weight, durable, and don't take up much space.
You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
Taking away good American mirror grinding jobs and sending them to the moon (probably to be made by illegal aliens) while depriving FedEx of the shipping revenue!
Somebody contact Lou Dobbs!
...cannot wait to see some mad scientist use this technology to turn the moon into one giant magnifying mirror and having a nice game of "ants on the sidewalk." (And of course, the obligatory welcome to our new super-reflective overlords. Sigh.)
Took this comment seriously, did you?
It takes forever to count out 6857 grains of salt as well. I suspect they'll just write down "one cup of nanotubes" and be done with it.
Took this comment seriously, did you?
"That's no space station. It's a moon!"
Hire Dr. Evil to adapt his pet sharks with "Lasers" to be more like fish tank sucker fish that can co-exist in the Lunar habitat and enjoy new extreme environments for them to play, work, and live it, or perhaps have him create some kind of robo-sucker-wiper-kill-bot.
they'll prolly mix it up and end up exploding.
Humans will be living on the moon and this means they'll probably be living in glass houses.
Invenio via vel creo
So, Ikea has an astronomy equipment division?
Yes, their biggest seller is called Skope, but you can also get the Refraktor or Kassegrain.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.