ThickTarget
ThickTarget t1_iu3y0k7 wrote
Reply to comment by mfb- in Chinese researchers create the world's largest silicon carbide aspherical mirror by tommos
The article states that it was delivered to a customer in 2019, but nothing further. Not heard anything about a 4 meter before. I looked around and all I can find is one SPIE paper presenting an instrument for an upcoming Chinese 4 meter, but it doesn't actually name the telescope.
ThickTarget t1_ixpw4br wrote
Reply to comment by WhyCloseTheCurtain in 'Great observatories' – the next generation of NASA’s space telescopes, and their impact on the next century of observational astronomy by burtzev
The decadal did prioritise two probe missions, which will have a cost of about a billion each. But realistically it would be one per decade, with the first launching around 2035. It's a limitation of the decadal system in that proposals compete in terms of scientific priorities, not cost or efficiency. So the smaller concepts struggle to compete. There are no fixed cap opportunities like there are for smaller Explorer missions. ESA has a better system in this regard, they have comparable M class missions where the best concept which fits within the cost cap wins. Euclid, Plato and Ariel are all ESA M class astronomy missions expected to launch this decade.