Giving the University of Arizona Mirror Lab a spin
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
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How Long Does It Take to Make a Mirror?
The casting process takes a year to 14 months and then the polishing that you know can it's going to take right now although we're working to speed this up. The most recent mirror that we've cast is for a wide field spectroscopic survey telescope so that hole in the mirror is the largest hole we've ever had in one of our mirrors. We are exploring using our mirrors as a possible lower-cost way of doing space telescopes but unfortunately for this mirror it's gonna have to wait about a year and a half before we can even get started on polishing it.
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