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Perhaps it could be designed so that, if the first telescope reaches orbit and works, the extras could be partially dismantled and large subsystems repurposed i
by jonhendry18 9y ago
Perhaps it could be designed so that, if the first telescope reaches orbit and works, the extras could be partially dismantled and large subsystems repurposed in a new satellite. Take out the optics package and replace it with something else. Keep the power distribution, solar panels, and other things.
If nothing else the intelligence agencies could probably come up with a use for it.
- ehsankia 9y agoWith space being so vast, and the telescope looking at such a tiny fraction of the sky, I'm sure scientists wouldn't mind having more than one. I'm not super familiar with this, but I remember hearing that getting time on Hubble for your experiment definitely wasn't easy. Getting three times the available time surely has to be a huge positive for research, no? Not only that, having a second source of data will be critical in making sure measurements aren't flukes.
- zaarn 9y agoOutside of cubesats and mass deployed sats like GPS and the European variant, almost every satellite is somewhat of a unique build. Even cubesats and GPS sats are special, you can't simply take a GPS sat and repurpose it for a TV station. The requirements can be vastly different (geostationary vs LEO, precise orientation vs simple attitude control). The same goes for space telescope. You can't just take a ST sat body, ram in a LEO weather satellites electronics and expect that to stay in orbit or work reasonably.