'It could make lightweight mirrors that are 15 or 20 meters in diameter a reality.'
Membrane mirrors made using a new technique are flexible enough to be rolled up. This could be helpful for storing the mirrors inside of a launch vehicle.
Using his new method, Rabien built a mirror 0.9 feet wide. He created what is called a membrane mirror by placing an evaporated material, the identity of which is not disclosed in the statement, into a vacuum chamber. Soon after, a lightweight polymer membrane, likely as thin as household plastic wrap, began to form.
Next, to mold this membrane into a parabola — a necessity for space telescopes, as the shape allows better focus by directing incoming light into one spot — Rabien added a"rotating container filled with a small amount of liquid" to the inside of the vacuum chamber. This allowed the polymer to grow and form the base of the mirror. Coating the mirror with a reflecting surface like aluminum would make it telescope-worthy, according to the statement.
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