NASA has shared the initial view of a full-scale model for six telescopes that will facilitate the detection of gravitational waves from space in the coming decade.
NASA has shared the initial view of a full-scale model for six telescopes that will assist in detecting gravitational waves from space over the next ten years—these waves are subtle disturbances in the fabric of space-time created by the merger of black holes and various cosmic events.
The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, spearheaded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA, aims to detect these gravitational waves. It will utilize lasers for measuring extremely precise distances—down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter—between three spacecraft positioned in a staggeringly large formation, exceeding the size of the Sun. Each side of the triangular setup will stretch approximately 1.6 million miles, or 2.5 million kilometers.
“Twin telescopes on every spacecraft will both send and receive infrared laser beams to monitor each other, and NASA will provide all six of these telescopes for the LISA mission,” explained Ryan DeRosa, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The prototype, named the Engineering Development Unit Telescope, will serve as a guide as we develop the flight hardware.”
This Engineering Development Unit Telescope was created and assembled by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, and it reached Goddard in May. Its primary mirror is coated with gold to enhance the reflection of infrared lasers and minimize heat loss from a surface that will be exposed to the cold of space, making it function optimally when near room temperature.
The prototype is constructed entirely from a specially designed amber-colored glass-ceramic known as Zerodur, produced by Schott in Mainz, Germany. This material is commonly used for telescope mirrors and other precision-required applications because its form remains consistent across a broad range of temperatures.
The LISA mission is expected to launch in the mid-2030s.
