Ultrascope - 3D Printed Telescope

[Godit]

So I just heard about this Open Space Agency project for a 3D printed telescope designed for a citizen science role. Its supposed to be a fraction of the cost of similar performance scopes but I haven't seen any real design specs or specific price points. I think they have a 3.5" demonstrator and are working on an 8" prototype. It looks exciting to me but I'm new to this hobby and perhaps a bit naive.

I'm skeptical about the "low cost" element because even with 3D printed parts, the mirror seems like it the bulk of the cost for a reflector like this, and that would still have to be made conventionally. I wonder if any of you would care to speculate on this project.

http://www.openspaceagency.com/ultrascope/

[PeterW]

And a 12", though flexure is a worry. You forgot the cost of the lumia phone to control it and take the pictures. I am worried it won't have the sensitivity or the field of view to be useful. Being able to auto point and track would be awesome... But then you could add this to any normal tracking scope of someone wrote a programme to involve plate solving.

We await some reviews and results. I would quite like a robot 12" that i can use to grab pictures of nebulae with a suitable filter.

PEterW

[Zakalwe]

3D printing is great, but this looks like another in a long line of over-hyped "Wow- 3D printers can make ANYTHING!!!" sort of projects. As Peter points out, the mirror is the heart of a scope and that would have to be made conventionally.

[PeterW]

A cheap way to make a driven mount and software and electronics to make it find stuff automatically or carry out imaging runs for NEO would be great.

Software to do the same with an eq6 and any CCS camera would also be useful.

Cheers

Peter

[JamesF]

The last attempt at a 3D printed telescope I saw didn't look exactly ground-breaking.  Whilst they do seem to have made a better fist of this one and I think the fork mount looks really quite smart, the blurb on their website doesn't convince me that they really properly understand the problem they're trying to solve.

James

[PeterW]

Maybe I need to offer to do some beta testing.... See if they are going to do a user group demo like they tried before Xmas.

Cheers

Peter

[Joseki]

I'm pretty sure you could achieve the same with a conventional scope and mount combo and for the gee-wizz factor strap a small form pc onto the mount/scope (raspberry pi2 running win 10?) - which some people are already starting to do anyway I think I remember reading about somewhere (integrated pc and camera).  I doubt the smartphone is really the best camera to use, however many pixels it has.

[RikM]

I saw a news story on this the other day and had a bit of a look into it. They were talking about £200 target price for a 90mm version but it wasn't clear if that included the optics. It may be a fun 3D project but the 'Astronomy' side is definitely secondary given the proven quality and features of easily available mainstream scopes in the same price bracket.

[JamesF]

I'd be inclined to agree.  I have to admit to a little irritation when these projects are hailed as "radically transforming astronomy" when they're really nothing of the sort, regardless of how interesting a 3D printing project they might be.

James

[PeterW]

I lead our company support for "3D printing" and read a LOT of articles that use the technology cos they could.... Not because it gives any benefit. there is a lot of potential, but a lot of puff too.

Peter