Instead, his “fluid telescope” concept requires only launching a frame structure such as an umbrella parabolic antenna and a tank of mirror liquids such as gallium alloys or ionic liquids. After firing, the liquid is injected into the frame. In space, droplets stick together due to surface tension, not the nasty gravity of Earth getting in the way and distorting their shape. This results in an incredibly smooth mirror without the need for mechanical processes such as grinding and polishing used in traditional glass mirrors. It is then attached to other telescope components via an automated process.
Using tests on airplanes and on the International Space Station, his team has already learned how to make lenses with liquid polymers and has determined that the volume of the liquid sets the magnification. prepares for the next step. This is his 10th year to conduct tests of small liquid mirrors in space. Their goal is to eventually design a 50-meter mirror, but Balaban says the technology is scalable so they can use the same physical principles to design the mirror. kilometer width. The JWST’s large mirror is one of the most sensitive telescopes ever made, but he says this new method may need to make larger mirrors to continue progress. he claims
Zachary Cordero, a spaceflight researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is leading another new project to develop a space manufacturing technique called bendforming. This requires bending his single strand of wire at specific nodes and angles and adding joints to create a rigid structure. Cordero and his team are working on specific uses. Designing reflectors for satellites in high orbit that can monitor storms and precipitation by measuring changes in atmospheric moisture.
Like several other winners, his proposal addresses the challenges of building something very large in space, despite the size and weight constraints of rocket travel. “The larger the reflector, the worse the surface accuracy, and eventually it becomes unusable. For decades, people have been talking about how to make 100-meter or kilometer-scale reflectors in space.” says. With their process, he says, one rocket could launch enough material for a 100-meter dish.
Among the 14 other winners were proposals to deploy seaplanes to fly to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and the seas of neighboring Enceladus, which is surrounded by a thick outer layer of ice that behaves as There have been proposals for heated probes to penetrate the Rock, thanks to sub-zero temperatures.
Some of these projects won’t succeed, but the program will help NASA test the limits of what it can do, LaPointe said. If it works, it could change his future NASA missions. “
