Figure 13 Menisci for water for various load factors N (after E. Benedikt) mass that is free floating or adhering to a precisely plane surface or to interior surface of a precisely cylindrical "pot" (with a precisely circular cross section)--will be precisely spherical. For clean precisely circular boundaries at fixed inclination over an arbitrary azimuth direction and at zero relative constant acceleration ("zero-gravity") therefore, a sufficient amount of clean, non-reactive, optical (reflective or refractive) liquid when introduced will by energy principles quickly exhibit a precise, concave or convex spherical surface with fixed constant contact angle at all points on the boundary. Characteristics & Scope of Liquid Optics in Space Such automatically ground and polished precision surfaces are very nearly what is needed for astronomical and energy-handling primary and secondary mirrors. "Liquid space optics" technology as conceived here uses no spinning. Static principles of adhesion, cohesion and surface tension of liquids-"epihydrostatics"--are relied on exclusively. Very large, precision optics are difficult, expensive or impossible to build on Earth at one gravity. In space they should be natural, straightforward and "easy." Liquid space optics purports to offer characteristic diffraction-limited quality in orbital mirrors up to one mile in diameter or larger, which are invulnerable to ordinary space hazards at costs which are orders of magnitude below those of conventional fabrication technology (when latter offers feasibility at any price). Optical substrates for liquid space optics are expanded and rigidized from folded plastic materials as shown in Figure 14. Then lofted, stored liquid is introduced onto these solid surfaces, where spreading is accounted for by principles of adhesion (Figure 15).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==