Record-Setting Displacement Measurements to Enable the Search for Distant Life
This blog post originated in the 2017 Science Mission Directorate Technology Highlights Report (33 MB PDF). Technology Development A team of NASA optics experts has built a picometer spatial metrology system that may enable a major Agency initiative—to locate and image Earth-like planets beyond the solar system and scrutinize their atmospheres for signs of life. Researchers at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in conjunction with collaborators at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, have demonstrated for the first time the ability to dynamically detect subatomic-sized distortions—changes that are far smaller than an atom—across a five-foot segmented telescope mirror and its support structure. Development of an ultra-stable observatory to detect and study exoplanets such as the one in the artists rendition shown above requires the capability to measure subatomic-sized distortions. (Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech) To detect life on a distant planet, an observatory would have to gather and focus enough light to distinguish the planet’s light from that...