Loura Hall

Article URL: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2023/fluidic_telescope_flute/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34732768
Points: 1
# Comments: 0

Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE): Enabling the Next Generation of Large Space Observatories

Fluidic Telescope (Flute)

Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE)

9983323037107a76b9654b7dbe740aea63796573

The Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE) project team envisions a way to make huge circular self-healing mirrors in-orbit to further the field of astronomy.

The NASA Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE) Project

FLUTE aims to find out if giant lenses and mirrors – the high-quality optical components needed for future large-aperture space telescopes – can be created from liquids in space.

What is the Fluidic Telescope?

The Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE) project team, jointly led by NASA and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, envisions a way to make huge circular self-healing mirrors in-orbit to further the field of astronomy. Larger telescopes collect more light, and they allow astronomers to peer farther into space and see distant objects in greater detail.

Chlorofluorocarbons are a potential signature of technological civilizations, say astronomers. And the next generation of observatories could spot them.

How The James Webb Space Telescope Could Detect Industrial Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres

Visible light is just one part of the electromagnetic spectrum that astronomers use to study the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope was built to see infrared light, other space telescopes capture X-ray images, and observatories like the Green Bank Telescope, the Very Large Array, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and dozens of other observatories around the world work at radio wavelengths.

Radio interference from satellites is threatening astronomy—zone proposed for testing new technologies

The next major step in astronomy, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will see the big picture in terms of space.