Honeycomb mirrors of borosilicate glass - Current results and plans for 7-8m diameter

The making of large astronomical mirrors with borosilicate glass honeycomb structure is discussed. Particular attention is given to a single casting technique for making borosilicate honeycomb mirror blanks up to 7 meters in diameter. Current work on the development of this technique involves the casting of blanks 60 cm in diameter which have the full thickness (33 cm), cell size (15 cm), and faceplate thickness (2.5 cm) needed for a 1.8-m mirror.