Editor's Summary
21 June 2007
Liquid engineering
A feasibility study is under way for a space telescope capable of observing objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than those accessible to the next generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The instrument that is yet to come is the Lunar Liquid Mirror Telescope, based on a 20- to 100-metre mirror consisting of a spinning liquid. The infrared is particularly important for observations of the early Universe, and for this a mirror temperature of below 130 K is required. This part of the project is feasible, the latest studies suggest. By coating an ionic liquid with silver, a smooth, stable surface is obtained. In its current form the lens is liquid down to 175 K, but a melting point below 130 K should be attainable in time.
News and Views: Materials science: Reflections on ionic liquids
Ionic liquids are generally regarded as solvents, but these modular, tunable compounds have far greater technological potential. With a coat of silver, they become ideal materials for the liquid mirror of a space telescope.
Robin D. Rogers
doi:10.1038/447917a
Letter: Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope
Ermanno F. Borra, Omar Seddiki, Roger Angel, Daniel Eisenstein, Paul Hickson, Kenneth R. Seddon & Simon P. Worden
doi:10.1038/nature05909
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