NASA will take the rare opportunity to study for the first time the surface details and interior of the asteroid using its optical and
radar telescope.
Liebowitz, "Structures technology for large radio and
radar telescope systems," in Structures Technology for Large Radio and
Radar Telescope Systems, J.
While the diameter of QE2 is 2.7 km, it cannot be viewed by naked eyes or small telescopes but rather needs radar 70-meter or larger
radar telescope, he added.
Using the Arecibo
Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico, Jean-Luc Margot of the University of California, Los Angeles was able to tell that Hermes consists of two gravitationally tied pieces, each about 300 to 450 meters across and orbiting the other.
The Firepond laser
radar telescope, shown in Figure 3, has an aperture of 1.2 m and is used as the laser radar transmitter and receiver antenna.