1) In particular, even the inaugural design document ("The C-11 design manual," August 1994), itself skeletal in places, had two authors, Hans Bilger and Ulrich Schreiber. Early input at this level by Schreiber in the design document and from experience operating a large ring laser in New Zealand is not adequately acknowledged in Bilger's letter.

2) Bilger's letter omits mention of the more detailed and lengthy design work for C-11 by the Carl Zeiss company in subsequent years. This was necessary to provide a substantial part of the novel applied technology and to make the instrument possible.

3) The setup and the conditions of operation have changed drastically over the last 15 months. Major modifications were made during the 8-month commissioning by Schreiber on site at Christchurch, New Zealand.

In summary, Bilger's letter underrates the contribution of others at all levels and ignores items 2 and 3.

M. Schneider
U. Schreiber
Forschungseinrichtung Satellitengeod,
Technische Universität München,
Arcisstrasse 21, 80333
München, Germany
G. E. Stedman
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Canterbury,
Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch, New Zealand