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posted by janrinok on Monday October 26 2015, @06:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the mirror-thermidor dept.

The University of Leicester announces today the signature of a contract to develop an innovative new type of X-ray mirror for a telescope to be flown on an orbiting observatory to be launched in 2021.

The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a joint Chinese-French satellite observatory. Designed to study the most powerful explosions in the Universe out to the era of the first generation of stars, SVOM will locate hundreds of gamma-ray bursts signifying the deaths of massive stars.

University of Leicester scientists with its Space Research Centre instrumentation and engineering staff in the Department of Physics and Astronomy have developed a unique capability to make a new kind of super-light-weight X-ray focussing optic.

Traditional X-ray mirrors for space telescopes are made of solid glass or metal and weigh tens of kilograms or more. The new 'Lobster' X-ray mirror for SVOM weighs just one kilo, and so is much easier to launch into orbit.

Professor Julian Osborne, who is leading this work at Leicester explained: "Lobsters and similar animals use reflecting mirrors to focus light in their eyes, unlike the lenses used by people. We can make man-made Lobster-type mirrors with the very high degree of smoothness needed to focus X-rays, and make them robust enough to survive the rigours of a rocket launch."


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