Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Arcosim t1_iuaey39 wrote

Xuntian has a 2m mirror, and Earth 2.0 (the space telescope China is launching in 2026 into L2) is an array of six smaller telescopes sharing the same superstructure. So if this mirror is used it'll be used in another not currently announced space telescope.

Which makes sense, because Xuntian is a survey telescope (with a modest mirror but huge 2.4 gigapixel sensor) and Earth 2.0 is an exoplanet finder (5 IR telescopes plus a microlensing telescope). Which means there's a gap right in the middle for a depth of field telescope (think Hubble). This mirror would be perfect for it.

2