Why is the substrate glass? Lack of reactivity? Ability to remove imperfections? As a layman with almost zero knowledge of telescope construction, I feel like a heavy amorphous solid would not be my first choice for the base layer underneath the reflective/mirror coating.
Its not your normal soda-lime glass, its more of a glass-ceramic material that have very low coefficient of thermal expansion, something like zerodur: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerodur , which means it can keep its shape and focus even under varying temperature
Yes, if you can coordinate and hold their position to ~1/10th of the wavelength (gets challenging above a few GHz), and synchronize their transmitters/receivers with ps accuracy (feasible if there's no GPS interference). And somehow you're exchanging the raw signal components amongst all the platforms.
The parabolic distribution is not at all needed in this case, you would just adjust the phase at each unit based on the distribution you have.
It is a thing that's considered, mostly for very low frequencies (1-100MHz) where all the above challenges are vastly simplified, and also large antennas (potentially km) are needed for any kind of directionality.
If the drones use e.g. laser rangefinders to measure the distance to 2-3 known reflectors, and maybe to each other, with sub-mm accuracy, that may be enough.
Deploying an antenna that's effectively 50 or 100 m wide by lifting 10-20 drones, after some simple ground preparations, could be invaluable in many scenarios, especially for the military, of course.
The same technique as he uses here for synchronizing the receivers would work. Common reception and triangulation of a strong local beacon would enable positioning at much better than GNSS precision, both because of the SNR advantage itself and because you'd have more options for dealing with carrier phase ambiguity.
It represents the same position of mediocre acceptance that many espresso affectionadors will arrrive at after spending many months/years mucking about with expensive kit.
Wait till you see my cookbook, "1-minute Meal Replacement Powders", the perfect complement to my self-help/self-sabotage title, "Better Living Through Lower Standards".
YOLO, and no one gets it right on the first try anyway...
Are you offering shares in your venture? I’d be mildly interested in investing on the expectation that I’d see returns that are slightly worse than inflation.
I was wondering too, if maybe under the right conditions, humidity sensors could trigger polarization of the glass surface followed by opposite polarization could potentially rid the surface of at least some of the dust. Some ionizing devices even produce a 'wind' of sorts.
I wonder if there is a common substance that could be scanned for historical interactions - like some salt flats.. that might preserve, like film, a history of energetic anomalies.
> an observed sharp enhancement of the production of cosmogenic isotopes by cosmic rays. It can be marked by a spike in the concentration of radioactive carbon isotope 14C in tree rings, as well as 10Be and 36Cl in ice cores, which are all independently dated.
Eventually medical science is going to arrive at methods that have potential to cure/create disease, novel organisms, synthetic organisms, etc. I don't think we want these methods pursued in a geopolitical vacuum either - like an arms race. It is inevitable and the only way to improve our collective chances of survival will be to co develop building codes, quarantine strategy, and agile attitudes to respond in time.
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