LR Drill Set 3, Question 1
Optical telescopes can be stationed either on isolated(54 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(9 more words not shown)
- AUnlike space telescopes,(9 more words not shown)
- BThe overall cost(18 more words not shown)
- CSpace telescopes are(13 more words not shown)
- DSpace telescopes are(11 more words not shown)
- EUnlike space telescopes,(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Bigger mirrors are one advantage. “Superior in every respect” is a much bigger claim.
The land telescopes can detect fainter objects than any space telescope can. Let's give them that. What about the other things we might care about: when a telescope can operate, how clear its observations are, or how much the research costs? One demonstrated advantage doesn't settle every comparison.
I also wonder whether the improved technology could eventually be used in space. The passage doesn't answer that question, though its present-tense conclusion is about the telescopes available now. We don't have to settle future engineering to challenge the sweeping claim it actually makes.
What we’re looking for
The EXCEPT stem means four answers undermine the land telescopes' supposed superiority. An advantage of being in space would do it. For example, perhaps a space telescope avoids weather that interferes with one on Earth. We want the remaining answer, which either helps the land side or leaves the comparison alone.
Working the answers
- A
This gives space telescopes a clear advantage: they aren't limited to operating in clear weather. Land telescopes can have better mirrors and still lose observing time to bad weather. That is enough to challenge “superior in every respect,” so A is a weakener we should eliminate.
- B
The same research costs more when done with land telescopes. Cost is another respect in which the space option would be better. Even if the land telescope detects fainter objects, its greater expense prevents the evidence from establishing superiority across every consideration.
- C
Earthquakes and similar geological events affect land telescopes but not space telescopes. That is an additional vulnerability of the land option. We don't need to claim space telescopes face no dangers whatsoever; avoiding this particular danger already gives them an advantage the conclusion overlooks.
- DCorrect
This points in the other direction. Space telescopes are more vulnerable to temperature-related distortion, giving land telescopes an advantage on that measure. D doesn't prove land telescopes are better in every possible way, but it does nothing to undermine that claim. It is the exception among answers that otherwise identify disadvantages of the land option.
- E
Atmospheric corrosion is a problem for land telescopes that space telescopes avoid. This supplies another respect in which land telescopes are worse. It therefore challenges the universal superiority claim rather than serving as our EXCEPT answer.
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