Re: Autonomous Space Telepscopes...

Johnny1a wrote:

Someone pointed out in the 'best place for a telescope' thread that
light-lag considerations limit the distance from Earth that we can
effectively remote-operate a space telescope (assuming we want to run
it from Earth, of course). So if we want to put a large-scale
multi-element scope way out in _deep_ space, it might need to be at
least somewhat autonomous.

I don't follow why this would be such a significant issue. Obviously a space telescope needs attitude control, and that has to be remove whether or not it's nearby or far away in terms of lightspeed delay. As long as your command to point at a certain location gets there before whatever you want to see happens, discounting lightspeed delay -- usually not a major consideration in astronomical viewing, as things don't change all that fast, needless to say -- you're good to go.

If it's just that you can't tell it to look at something _now_, I can only imagine that space telescopes in high demand would have long backlogs of targets for study that are planned out long in advance since their use would be so valuable. And that logistical lag in changing the schedule would certainly be much larger than any lightspeed delay for a telescope that's still in our Solar System!

Seems to me the only real considerations for space telescope positioning are that 1. there aren't nearby bodies that always obstruct certain areas of the sky, which really shouldn't be an issue if you're in orbit around something, and 2. that, depending on its design, you might want to service it occasionally -- spin up its flywheels, replenish its attitude control jet fuel, or juice up its RTGs or what have you -- and then obviously how close you wnat it depends on how far you can get around out there. IF it's a one-shot deal and you don't expect to ever service it in its lifetime, then it doesn't really matter where it is.

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