[vannrox]

THis is exciting. But Eight years in the future is a long time, and with normal cost overruns, a possible democrat in office, and other uncertainities, it may never happen.

[taxcontrol]

I remember a concept paper long ago that talked about the possibility of deploying hundreds of smaller mirrors on a lattis structure. The idea would be that each smaller mirror would be a small (say 2") parabolic mirror that would then focus on the main reflector of only a meter or so.

Each small mirror would require constant micro modifications to compensate for stresses in the lattis structure. This was to be accomplished by piezo (sp?) motors and lasers for measurements.

The idea was that you could pre-assemble the lattis components with the mirrors and assemble in space. The back side of the lattis would provide shielding and a place to mount solar pannels, batteries, electronics, etc.

I wonder if such a design would work here?

[T. P. Pole]

Here's my concern with this. How many trips have they made to Hubble to fix things? Can they even get to this orbit?

[john in missouri]

Its primary mirror is expected to be at least six meters -- or 20 feet -- in diameter, compared to Hubble's 2.4- meter -- 7.8-foot -- mirror.

Whoa! That's one hell of a piece of glass!