When you need a large reflective surface with the shape that happens to be defined by the inverse-square law, why not let gravity do the work for you? If it's low gravity and near-vacuum, the reflective surface can be very thin and light.
Now imagine four of them in orbit--geosynchronous, or at the moon's altitude, or orbiting the sun (though at that point, clock synchronizing becomes a problem)--forming a very large array of such telescopes.
With the resolution available from such a network, we could read Lithian newspapers. Or study in detail some of the exoplanets we've been finding.
2 comments:
Now imagine four of them in orbit--geosynchronous, or at the moon's altitude, or orbiting the sun (though at that point, clock synchronizing becomes a problem)--forming a very large array of such telescopes.
With the resolution available from such a network, we could read Lithian newspapers. Or study in detail some of the exoplanets we've been finding.
Eric Hines
Indeed, in principle we could set up some Very Large Arrays.
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