NASA Scientists Pioneer Method for Making Giant Lunar Telescopes
This isn't the first time researchers have speculated on the pie-in-the-sky dream of a lunar telescope, but the construction approach to this particular monster is intriguing. I mean, nanotubes and the use of on-site materials is the stuff of science fiction, no? If they could somehow automate the process, it might actually happen within the next 50 years or so:
For years, Chen had been working with carbon-fiber composite materials to produce high-quality telescope mirrors. But Chen and his colleagues decided to try an experiment. They substituted carbon nanotubes (tiny tubular structures made of pure carbon) for the carbon-fiber composites. When they mixed small amounts of carbon nanotubes and epoxies (glue-like materials) with crushed rock that has the same composition and grain size as lunar dust, they discovered to their surprise that they had created a very strong material with the consistency of concrete. This material can be used instead of glass to make mirrors.
They next applied additional layers of epoxy and spun the material at room temperature. The result was a 12-inch-wide mirror blank with the parabolic shape of a telescope mirror. All of this was achieved with minimal effort and cost.
"After that, all we needed to do was coat the mirror blank with a small amount of aluminum, and voilà, we had a highly reflective telescope mirror," says Rabin. "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." Such an observatory would dwarf the largest optical telescope in the world right now: the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias in the Canary Islands.
They're talking about a 50-meter telescope, for crying out loud. Multiple 50-meter telescopes. Operating as an array. Egads, we could probably see back to the beginning of time with something like that. Or beyond. The mind, as they say, boggles.
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