'Low-Cost' Folding Telescope Under Development at DARPA

The United States military's advanced research arm is working on a foldable space telescope that could image Earth in high resolution at a relatively low cost.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says the telescope design - known as the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation, or MOIRE - would be of great use in geosynchronous Earth orbit, the spot 22,000 miles up where most telecommunications satellites reside.

"Membrane optics could enable us to fit much larger, higher-resolution telescopes in smaller and lighter packages," Lt. Col. Larry Gunn, MOIRE program manager, said in a statement. Read more...