In an effort to see even farther, researchers at the California Institute of Technology and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have designed the robotically assembled modular space telescope (RAMST), which is to be assembled while in orbit with a specialized robot doing the heavy lifting.
There are several good reasons to build telescopes in space, where they are not restricted by the movement of the Earth or hindered by the atmosphere. Telescopes built in space can also have larger components and the ability to take better images of their distant targets.
This puts a lot of pressure on astronauts who, until recently, were the only ones who could assemble the larger structures in orbit. “Astronaut fatigue” is a problem here, where all work and no rest could cause an astronaut to make an error. It goes without saying that orbiting the Earth is a bad place to have a workplace accident.
The solution is to have the work performed by a robot.
The design overcomes restrictions on mass and volume by allowing the telescope components, including a mirror built with a modular structure, to be delivered over time. This enables the deployment of very large telescopes in space, rather than building them on Earth and launching them into orbit.
“The capability to assemble a modular space telescope has other potential applications,” said Harley Thronson, senior scientist for Advanced Astrophysics Concepts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Thronson added, “For example, astronomers using major ground-based telescopes are accustomed to many decades of operation, and the Hubble Space Telescope has demonstrated that this is possible in space if astronauts are available. A robotic system of assembly, upgrade, repair and resupply offers the possibility of very long useful lifetimes of space telescopes of all kinds.”
It remains to be seen whether this concept will be put into production, but it’s a very big step in the right direction.
For a very different approach to combating astronaut fatigue, check out GM and NASA's RoboGlove.