3 ms·

If its highly reflective maybe it won't heat up much in sunlight.

• lstodd 6y ago
  It can't be in sunlight, or the telescope would be useless. The problem would be more in choosing a material that has low enough melting point so that making up for the radiative loss to keep it melted wouldn't be a big issue and at the same time vapor losses can be managed. Which is why they propose separate materials for the mirror body and its surface I guess.
  • postalrat 6y ago
    Why would it be useless? I'm sure dark is preferable but there isn't an atmosphere on the moon and most of light should reflect away from the sensor. Of course it should probably never point at the sun unless they want to melt their sensors.
    • lstodd 6y ago
      No mirror is perfect, it scatters some light anyway. Just a tiny bit of scattered sunlight will drown anything they're trying to see.