From Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018
Large visible telescopes present challenging requirements for manufactured surface figure and stability. By comparison, far infrared (IR) telescopes relax many of these requirements by ~100x. These relaxed requirements may translate into reduced cost, schedule, mass, and system complexity. This paper explores how different mirror substrate materials might take advantage of these requirements while operating in a cryogenic environment. Primary mirror materials are evaluated for an Origins Space Telescope (OST) concept, using a 9.1 m segmented aperture in a 30 μm diffraction limited system.
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Matthew East, J. Scott Knight, Lynn Allen, Ted Mooney, and Keith Havey, "Material selection for far Infrared telescope mirrors," Proc. SPIE 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 106981N (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 13, 2018; Published: 6 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314310.