On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:30:17 GMT, "Roger Hamlett"
wrote:

I think you have 'hit the nail on the head', with the cost of materials
'outweighing' any savings.
The obvious design idea, is to keep weights down, and distortions from the
weight down, on larger scopes. I'd doubt if the design is
economic/practical for scopes any smaller than the prototype, and even on
this, if produced in quantity, is still likely to be more expensive than a
simple 'glass' and carbon fibre tube design...

But it might eventually bring meter-class scopes into a price range where some
amateurs could afford them (say, where 20" RCs are now). The intriguing thing is
that with 1m optics you are getting into the range where true adaptive optics
becomes a possibility.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com