Wow, it look like science fiction. And yet, they could make it happen. Brilliant.
"Telescope lenses someday might come in aerosol cans. Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are exploring a new type of space telescope with an aperture made of swarms of particles released from a canister and controlled by a laser...
These floating lenses would be larger, cheaper and lighter than apertures on conventional space-based imaging systems like NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes...."
Doum wrote:"Telescope lenses someday might come in aerosol cans. Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are exploring a new type of space telescope with an aperture made of swarms of particles released from a canister and controlled by a laser..."
I remember making gas lenses back in the 1970s. For those, I ran charged gas at very low velocity through a tube and radially modified its density with external magnetic or electrical fields. That produces a radially changing index of refraction, and therefore works as an optical lens. Sounds like they're just scaling this up.
Chris
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Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory https://www.cloudbait.com
Though statements such as "swarms of smart dust forming a single or multiple lenses" and "(laser-guided) smart dust reflects light to the sensor" makes me think the process has more in common with telescopic-type lenses than space expanding-type lenses, I'm tempted to ask, "Could gas, acting as a lens, be connected to the theory of entropic gravity?"
As Erik Verlinde states, thoroughly understanding how gravity relates to mass may require one less dimension.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
This topic makes me question if entropy actually plays an equal role in expansion leading to the magnification we see. Of course how I feel has nothing to do with the science but it seems pretty coincidental the enormous mass needed for gravitational lensing versus the mass reducing entropy-related expansion is sensed as an inverse relationship. i.e. Mass x Entropy = 1 or M = 1/Entropy (Please forgive me my hypothetical math)
Though we still don't know which plays the bigger, mind-bending role; entropy or gravity - that which trumps the discussion could be all in our minds and it doesn't exist at all or, on the other hand, wouldn't it be more fun to envision the two ideas combined - an entropically enhanced gas-lensed light telescope?
Please pass me the quantum computer for that idea?
Have your victim look through the telescope. Tell them to press it firmly against there eye so they can see clearly. When they remove it a nice black circle will appear. A classic joke that never gets old!
