S.19.2-7: Construction of the world’s largest ground-based Telescope (Passed)

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Oh for god not this again. Fremont already went through this sh*t once. I guess it's the south's turn now.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Need I also point out there's nowhere in either the South or Lincoln you could actually build this telescope? A large telescope needs a high elevation and no light pollution in its placement. There exists no place in either the South or Lincoln where this telescope could be built. There exists no place without light pollution and of an adequate elevation in the South where this telescope could be built.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Can someone give us a cost estimate?

"1.   The government of the south believes that our region is an optimal region for the construction of giant telescopes competing with the thirty-meter telescope or the ELT."
The cost of the Thirty Metre telescope is breaking $1 Billion USD, the cost of the Chilean ELT is estimated to be around $1.2 Billion USD. Given this proposed telescope would be in competition with these the cost would be around the same.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Need I also point out there's nowhere in either the South or Lincoln you could actually build this telescope? A large telescope needs a high elevation and no light pollution in its placement. There exists no place in either the South or Lincoln where this telescope could be built. There exists no place without light pollution and of an adequate elevation in the South where this telescope could be built.

South: Guadalupe Peak, TX

Lincoln: Mt. Washington, NH

You also need low humidity and clear skies. That rules out Lincoln and the South.
The only places these extremely large telescopes can be built is on top of tall desert mountains away from any cities. Ergo, they are only built in Mauna Kea Hawaii, the Chilean Andes, Arizona, and the Canary Islands.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Need I also point out there's nowhere in either the South or Lincoln you could actually build this telescope? A large telescope needs a high elevation and no light pollution in its placement. There exists no place in either the South or Lincoln where this telescope could be built. There exists no place without light pollution and of an adequate elevation in the South where this telescope could be built.

South: Guadalupe Peak, TX

Lincoln: Mt. Washington, NH

You also need low humidity and clear skies. That rules out Lincoln and the South.
The only places these extremely large telescopes can be built is on top of tall desert mountains away from any cities. Ergo, they are only built in Mauna Kea Hawaii, the Chilean Andes, Arizona, and the Canary Islands.

Denali, AK?

Skies aren't clear enough and it isn't remotely accessable.
A telescope of this nature is already being planned/built on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. There is one up and running on Mt Graham Arizona. Those are the only workable locations for telescopes like this. They're in desert climates so humidity is low and the skies are clear, they're away from any cities so there is no light pollution, they're at a high elevation which helps with the clear skies too. And they're reasonably accessible so you can actually do construction by road access.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Wait does this actually do anything?

It simple states that the south would like private industry to build the next big telescope here.

I don't understand why people can't understand this.

Except there is no suitable location in the South to build such a telescope, so in reality this achieves nothing at all.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Wait does this actually do anything?

It simple states that the south would like private industry to build the next big telescope here.

I don't understand why people can't understand this.

Except there is no suitable location in the South to build such a telescope, so in reality this achieves nothing at all.

I mean maybe Guadalupe Peak, TX, it's in arid western TX, but it's only 90 miles away from El Paso, so, you may get pollution. But this is one of the few, viable sites in the South

3 ELTs are already being built around the world. 1 funded by Europe in Chile, 2 funded by the US, one in Chile and one in Hawaii. Regardless of anything else there is no real justification for spending another 2 billion dollars on an ELT when 3 are already being built.
An additional ELT in West Texas would provide no benefit to the scientific community whatsoever. The images would be of far inferior quality to those from Hawaii and Chile, and would be totally redundant.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

That being said I have to agree the best sites for new telescopes aren't in the South, they are in Fremont.

But the south rules in other areas of space(launch faculties, industry, etcc.) and many citizens ask me about why fremont gets all the ground base telescopes. Just looking out for my voters.

Fremont gets the all telescopes because only Fremont has the right terrain and climate.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A new larger radio telescope could certainly be built alongside the current Green Bank Telescope. In addition that puts it within the National Radio Quiet Zone, which gets rid of a great deal of the interference problem, though it would certainly have to be expanded and tightened for the telescope to be effective.