There was an Apollo lunar surface telescope. Small aperture. There have been other proposals for lunar surface telescopes. But they don't seem to offer any real advantages over space-based telescopes. At least part of the argument early on was that they could be more stable than a space-based telescope. But the stability problem for space telescopes was solved by the early 1970s.
There is information on the internet about the Apollo telescope. It was small. The idea of telescopes maybe .05 meters in diameter on the lunar surface was floated in the 1980s. I think the idea was really dead by the 1990s. There have been proposals for radio telescopes on the Moon.
A bit off-topic, but I've been thinking of the TLK recently, (the 2-man heavier version of the LK) but how exactly would it be launched? I'd assume it's significantly heavier than the LK, and knowing how little of a margin the N1 had, what modifications would the rocket require? I doubt it'd use a double launch, and hydrolox seems a bit too far-fetched - I could be wrong though! Thoughts?
There was an Apollo lunar surface telescope. Small aperture. There have been other proposals for lunar surface telescopes. But they don't seem to offer any real advantages over space-based telescopes. At least part of the argument early on was that they could be more stable than a space-based telescope. But the stability problem for space telescopes was solved by the early 1970s.
Thank you, I did not know about that.
There is information on the internet about the Apollo telescope. It was small. The idea of telescopes maybe .05 meters in diameter on the lunar surface was floated in the 1980s. I think the idea was really dead by the 1990s. There have been proposals for radio telescopes on the Moon.
A bit off-topic, but I've been thinking of the TLK recently, (the 2-man heavier version of the LK) but how exactly would it be launched? I'd assume it's significantly heavier than the LK, and knowing how little of a margin the N1 had, what modifications would the rocket require? I doubt it'd use a double launch, and hydrolox seems a bit too far-fetched - I could be wrong though! Thoughts?
I will save that for the next "Readers Questions" to answer in detail.