Dr. Peter C. Chen This is Me

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1. 1. www.catholicnews.com

   www.catholicnews.com/photos/08 - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/11/2008   Last Visited: 7/11/2008

   Peter Chen, an adjunct professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, gestures during an interview inside an observatory at NASA's Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md., July 8.Chen, who is also a scientist at Goddard, has pioneered a method to create giant telescopes on the moon. (CNS/Bob Roller)

2. 2. www.photonics.com

   www.photonics.com/content/news - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/5/2008   Last Visited: 6/14/2008

   "We could make huge telescopes on the moon relatively easily and avoid the large expense of transporting a large mirror from Earth," said Peter Chen of NASA Goddard and the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. "Since most of the materials are already there in the form of dust, you don't have to bring very much stuff with you, and that saves a ton of money."
   
   Chen and his Goddard colleagues Douglas Rabin, Michael Van Steenberg and Ron Oliversen presented their mirror-making technique in a poster session at the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, being held this week in St. Louis, Mo.
   ...
   For years, Chen had worked with carbon-fiber composite materials to produce high-quality telescope mirrors.But he and his colleagues decided to try an experiment: They substituted carbon nanotubes (tiny tubular structures made of pure carbon) for the carbon-fiber composites.
   ...
   "Constructing giant telescopes provides a strong rationale for doing astronomy from the moon," Chen said."We could also use this on-site composite material to build habitats for the astronauts and mirrors to collect sunlight for solar-power farms."
   
   Chen said his group achieved this breakthrough with only the support of small NASA internal seed funds.

3. 3. www.spacedaily.com

   www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_T - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/10/2008   Last Visited: 7/21/2008

   That's the dream of Peter C. Chen, astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.And he wants to build it using lunar dust-because that might just be the most economical approach.
   
   "If we lift all materials from Earth, we're limited by what a rocket can carry to the Moon," Chen explains."But on the Moon, you're absolutely surrounded by lunar dust"-a prized natural resource in the eyes of Chen, an expert in composite materials.
   
   Composite materials are synthetic materials made by mixing fibers or granules of various materials into epoxy and letting the mixture harden.Composites combine two valuable properties: ultralight weight and extraordinary strength.On Earth, for example, bicycle frames made of a composite of carbon fibers and epoxy are favorites of racing cyclists.
   
   "Why not make a composite using lunar dust?"asks Chen, who is also adjunct research professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
   
   So in his laboratory, he mixed NASA's simulated lunar dust called JSC-1A Coarse Lunar Regolith Simulant with epoxy and a small quantity of carbon nanotubes, a relatively recently discovered form of carbon that has many unusual and useful properties.The result?"It came out as hard, dense, and strong as concrete."
   
   Excited, Chen made a small telescope mirror using a long-known technique called spin-casting.First he formed a 12-inch (30-cm) diameter disk of lunar-simulant/epoxy composite.Then he poured a thin layer of straight epoxy on top, and spun the mirror at a constant speed while the epoxy hardened.
   
   The top surface of the epoxy assumed a parabolic shape-just the shape needed to focus an image.When the epoxy hardened, Chen inserted it into a vacuum chamber to deposit a thin layer of reflective aluminum onto the parabolic surface to create a 12-inch telescope mirror.
   
   The carbon nanotubes make the composite a conductor.Conductivity would allow a large lunar telescope mirror to reach thermal equilibrium quickly with the monthly cycle of lunar night and day.
   
   Conductivity would also allow astronomers to apply an electric current as needed through electrodes attached to the back of the mirror, to maintain the mirror's parabolic shape against the pull of lunar gravity as the large telescope was tilted from one part of the sky to another.
   
   To make a Hubble-sized moondust mirror, Chen calculates that astronauts would need to transport only 130 pounds (60 kg) of epoxy to the Moon along with 3 pounds (1.3 kg) of carbon nanotubes and less than 1 gram of aluminum.The bulk of the composite material-some 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) of lunar dust-would be lying around on the Moon for free.
   
   "I think we've discovered a simple method of making big astronomical telescopes on the Moon at 'non-astronomical' prices," Chen declares.