I have a student (future teacher) who wants to build lego models of space telescopes. (Hubble, Compton, Spitzer, etc). I've seen these models at conferences, but can't find plans or kits online.

Have any of you seen these before? She and I will be monitoring this thread.

Thank you so much for your help!

Cheers,
Pamela

This site looks like they'll sell you bricks and plans to make a model of the James Webb telescope.

Here are plans for a model of Spitzer (from CalTech)

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http://dvaa.org/php/pic.php?i=/Photo...Stellafane2005

Oops... just a picture.

Still looking.

This is the next best thing I could find.

http://www.rifkin.com/LazyStar/legoscope.html

After adorning the Christmas trees of a colleague and my own home with them, I can attest that a serviceable HST in about 1/144 scale can be made from a large thread spool, plastic 35mm film canister (now becoming obsolete), two popsicle sticks, large paper clips, gold paint, and aluminum foil. (Don't throw away the canister lid). Silver paint helps for the primary mirror, and of course one can get all carried away with secondary supports.You even get to point out that it's such an exact depiction that the primary mirror is not an exact paraboloid

Have you seen the paper models (like NASA's "Great Observatories" kit booklet)? Warning to onlookers - they are a lot more time-consuming and pretty addictive. If so, that would account for the Lego query.

I suspect that the lack of anything usable, and lack of diagnostics found online, that I was hosed by the question.

This is dorky and cool at the same time: http://www.rifkin.com/LazyStar/legoscope.html

<edited>
Woops... I missed the previous link.

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The page link to the Spitzer model above includes a link to "Mac Brick CAD" a program for designing your own Lego models.
And Lego themselves have "Lego Factory", a free download for PC or Mac.
See: http://shop.lego.com/Product/Factory/About.aspx

Good luck and, please "Show and Tell" here!

John

Hm... I heard there's a shuttle model you can buy the pieces for somewhere. Any news on that?

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See: http://www.cyberpursuits.com/space/store/toys/sts.asp
for the Lego-Space Shuttle.

Oooooh, pretty legos...

__________________
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Pretty much.. I explored several pages on that site and couldn't help but think that my son and I would squabble over who gets to play with what.

Mom said I'm too old to buy the Lego STS.

__________________
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

I'm 29 and I'm not too old

She's worried I'm in some sort of "regression".

__________________
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Hey thanks goes out to the people who have responded so far, I am the future teacher who is looking for the models. I will keep check back for more. Thanks again to everyone who as posted a respose so far. It will help me out a lot.

The best choice for this task was MLCAD [Lac04], a Computer Assisted Design (CAD) software for Lego designing, free for non-commercial use.

(sorry if this is the same as the one mentioned above)

i'm 33, and i started buying and playing with Transformers again..
life's too short to ever fully grow up.

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The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

In Sri Lanka, there is a gravestone of a man who died at 90 that says, "Here lies Arthur C. Clarke. He never grew up and did not stop growing."

A great example for us all!

There were actually several different lego space shuttle models of various sizes and complexities, many of which are now out of print. You can find most of them on ebay now, but expect to pay a bit for them.

One had a full launching tower and SRBs+fuel tank. The best one was a Technic set with working cargo doors, robotic arm, landing gear and the ability to have some of the movements electrically powered, and fiber-optically lit.

Heck, the whole group of "Discovery" sets are pretty cool. I know I saw a website showing a combined Mindstorms kit and the MER set to make a mobile lego MER, but I can't find it now.

The lego James Web Space Telescope was shown at the 2008 American Astronomical Society meeting, in the NASA booth. I'm pretty sure it was the same model as the one linked above. There were a lot of astronomers ogling it...

Lego_JWST-AAS2008.jpg

I'm waiting until I get a real job and a house where I can put a proper "lego room". Then its time for a shopping spree!

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"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Feynman, at the conclusion of his Challenger report

I like that the Lego James Web model has a sign that says "For Display Only". Otherwise, someone might put it on the shuttle and launch it into orbit.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Don't ignore the competitors to Lego. The best thing that ever happened to Lego was when their patents expired and serious competition entered the field.

Ah, there was some sort of lunar train available from Lego a few years back. You might try the Lego fans websites, or the Lego train websites. The fans usually refer to themselves collectively as 'blockheads'. They have conventions and build wonderful things and have a great time. Legos may be to us like the wheel was in pre-Columbian South America; used for toys, the culture missing the real usefulness of the concept.

If you're ever in central FL, there is a HUGE Lego exhibit at EPCOT. It's awsome.

And while you're there, you can "drink around the world".