A natural application for high temperature superconductors: A bearing for the azimuth mount of a lunar telescope

✍ Scribed by Ki Ma; Mark Lamb; Peter Chen; Thomas pilson; Rodger Coolep; Harold Xia; Clap Fopler; puark Chen; pei-Kan Chu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 623 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0964-1807
• DOI: 10.1016/0964-1807(94)90038-8

✦ Synopsis

A bearing for telescope mounts on the moon has to function in a cold dusty vacuum environment that impairs the operation of almost all traditional bearings, but it is a natural environment for bearings constructed out of magnets and high temperature superconductors.

The challenge lies not so much in the weight of the telescope that has to be supported, but in the smoothness of forces required for precision positioning control over a long stretch of time without human intervention.

In this paper, we present a design of hybrid superconductor magnet bearings intended for use on the azimuth mount of an altitude-azimuth telescope mount system. In addition to the general features of hybrid super conducting magnet bearings, we will address particular issues connected with the application of these bearings on a telescope mount.