One giant leap for space telescope kind
LiveScience.com: NASA’s big launcher in the making - the ultra-powerful Ares V (wikipedia entry) — may be the perfect lift ticket for astronomers, along with the rocket’s ability to help plant an outpost on the Moon says Leonard David.
A recently held astronomy workshop at NASA’s Ames Research Center has focused on utilizing the mega-blaster of a booster to hurl giant observatories into space…facilities that would make the now-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope look like a pip-squeak.
The Ares V can be topped by an 8 to 10 meter fairing and would have enough oomph to toss roughly 130 tons into low-Earth orbit. That being the case, the launcher is being eyed to deploy currently-infeasible telescopes and might provide a lower-cost means of deploying others.
For instance, one concept presented at the Ames gathering was a way to package an observatory that folds up nicely, but fans out once in space to become a 24-meter diameter telescope.
A recently held astronomy workshop at NASA’s Ames Research Center has focused on utilizing the mega-blaster of a booster to hurl giant observatories into space…facilities that would make the now-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope look like a pip-squeak.
The Ares V can be topped by an 8 to 10 meter fairing and would have enough oomph to toss roughly 130 tons into low-Earth orbit. That being the case, the launcher is being eyed to deploy currently-infeasible telescopes and might provide a lower-cost means of deploying others.
For instance, one concept presented at the Ames gathering was a way to package an observatory that folds up nicely, but fans out once in space to become a 24-meter diameter telescope.
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