We will be at the Roper Mountain Science Center for this meeting!

FLUTE (Fluidic Telescope): From Puddles to Giant Space Observatories

The future of space-based UV/optical/IR astronomy requires ever larger telescopes. The highest priority astrophysics targets — including Earth-like exoplanets, first generation stars, and early galaxies — are all very faint, which presents a challenge for current and next generation telescopes. Larger telescopes are the primary (if not only) way to address this issue. With mission costs depending strongly on aperture diameter, scaling current space telescope technologies to aperture sizes exceeding 10 meters does not appear economically viable. The FLUTE (Fluidic Telescope) project proposes to overcome the current scaling limitations for space optics via a novel approach based on fluidic shaping in microgravity. This technique has already been successfully demonstrated in a laboratory neutral buoyancy environment, in parabolic microgravity flights, and aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In this talk, Dr. Edward Balaban will present the results to date and outline the work in progress, including FLUTE mission concepts under development.

Edward Balaban's Bio

Edward Balaban is a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and is the NASA Principal Investigator for FLUTE project. His professional interests include robotics, autonomy, artificial intelligence, and development of innovative space missions.  In addition to FLUTE, Edward is the lead for strategic mission planning on NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission and is a member of VIPER’s Science, System Engineering, and Mission Operations teams. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from The George Washington University, a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University.