[Beowulf] Re: Re: blackbox on Mars?

[steve_heaton at iinet.net.au]

G'day all

With my astronomy hat on...

Of course what works in your favour for Earth imaging is that you're not
struggling to grab photons. Looking up instead of down means your limited by the
Reynolds number. On near-perfect conditions I think Keck can at best get about
200mm of clear air. This is where that expensive, whizz bang Adaptive Optics kit
gets the nod. Need to straighten those wavefronts!

Looking down I suspect you face similar atmos problems. All those 'little
lenses'. Not sure if the sodium layer would be a lot of help for a guide star.
Can't remember the altitude. Hmmm... could be from LEO. Regardless, it's easier
to straighten wavefronts if you know how they're bent in real time.

I'll gladly differ to Jim's greater knowledge on the 'space magic' stuff ;)

Cheers
Stevo