NASA researchers are working on a telescope that could be up to 100 times bigger than any that have come before it. To make this possible, several experiments are being conducted to see if fluids can be used to create lenses in microgravity. The next step in this project is stowed on the International Space Station National Laboratory waiting for the arrival of Axiom-1 astronauts to test out.
Water in space eventually assume a perfectly spherical shape, so by injecting liquid that can be solidified into circular frames submerged in water, the result are lenses that have an outstanding surface quality comparable or even better than achievable with the best polishing methods. Most importantly, these lenses only take a small fraction of the time to construct since it allows NASA to completely skip any mechanical processes such as grinding or polishing.
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Liquids are useful not only for creating the lenses themselves, but also as a mechanism to eliminate the effect of gravity in an experiment on Earth. By injecting a liquid that can be solidified, into circular frames submerged in water, we were able to create lenses literally in a janitor’s bucket. Polymers, which are also used in nail salons to make acrylic nails or in adhesives like superglue, are a natural choice for lens material,” said Dr. Valeri Frumkin, who developed the method in Bercovici’s group.
