Lockheed Martin improved telescopes: smaller, higher resolution

So after 400 years, the telescope's design is about to be upgraded dramatically thanks to a project funded by DARPA. Specifically, the polarizing 2-way telescope system for photovoltaic tracking (SPIDER) of Lockheed Martin. This system will replace many of the main lens elements in refracting telescopes with a series of smaller lenses that allow to shrink the size of the device multiple times.

The basic design of the refracting telescope is almost constant since it was invented in 1608. At one end, the refracting telescope is fitted with a magnifying lens with the function of collecting light and charging. into smaller lenses to convert into images. Although this design has been refined many times over the centuries, the telescope is still bound by the rule: the magnifying lens or the main lens must be larger to provide a better, synonymous image. with the system size also exaggerated.

The basic design of the refracting telescope is almost constant since it was invented in 1608.

Another problem is to produce large telescopes, it takes many years to complete by grinding, refining lenses that require very high accuracy and require a lot of time. In addition, glass lenses tend to be stretched by gravity, certain wavelengths cannot penetrate and often have high spherical aberration and chromatic aberration coefficients. So far, the 100cm-diameter telescope at Yerkes is still considered the best telescope ever built and completed in 1895.

SPIDER works according to the principle of interferometer.

Back to SPIDER, this system was developed by Lockheed Martin in partnership with the University of California at Davis and the improvement is that it consists of many small lenses similar to the eyes of an insect eye. Each lens will capture light to a photon transistor semiconductor circuit, so that the telescope is basically like a static camera.

Interestingly, SPIDER operates according to the principle of interferometer. Typically, an interferometer is used by astronomers to convert many optical telescopes or radio telescopes into a large telescope to be able to observe an area in the sky. The interferometer will combine images from these telescopes and by analyzing the amplitude and phase of the interference patterns, astronomers can convert them into a new high resolution image. than.

Lockheed is using this principle to make the telescope lighter, smaller and can be equipped on a spacecraft. Alan Duncan from Lockheed Martin said: "The new ability is to create an interference system with the same number of channels of a digital camera. They can take pictures, process and you have pictures. version, the interference system works like a shooting camera ".

SPIDER telescope does not necessarily have a tubular shape.

Lockheed said micro-lenses and PIC circuits on SPIDER do not need to be as calibrated as conventional lenses.

Although achieving the same performance as 100cm telescopes, SPIDER is much smaller and thinner, thereby saving up to 99% of system cost and fabrication cost. In addition, manufacturing time is shortened to several weeks instead of several years. And what is special is that the SPIDER telescope does not necessarily have a tubular. With a flat light convergence system, SPIDER can be made in many different shapes such as circular to hexagonal and can be mounted on a certain surface.

Currently, SPIDER is at an early stage of development and may take another 5 to 10 years before being applied. Duncan suggested that SPIDER has great potential for exploration for planets in Earth's outer orbit system such as Saturn or Jupiter and even further due to the higher resolution of 10 to 100 times while size, weight and power consumption are much smaller than traditional telescopes.