Astronomers propose lower

More powerful observatories are needed, though, to analyze these planets in greater detail, Apai points out.

He has been co-leading a team developing the Nautilus Space Observatory, which would break the mold of conventional telescopes. Unlike Hubble and James Webb, Nautilus will not collect light using mirrors. Instead, it will replace those large heavy mirrors with a new type of thin lens that is lighter, cheaper, and easier to produce.

Due to the lower cost compared with conventional telescopes, it would be possible to launch several individual units to orbit and create a large network. According to Apai, this would exceed the observational capabilities of the $10 billion James Webb telescope, allowing astronomers to peer at exoplanets like never before.

Webb is the most powerful space observatory to date, and it has allowed scientists to characterize the atmospheric composition of several exoplanets.

Using the new thin lens method, Apai and his team believe they can go even further and begin studying the chemical composition of these planets' surfaces. The key to this is an old technology called diffractive lenses.

New diffractive lenses could disrupt astronomy

The team behind Nautilus came up with their idea when they were asked by Northrop Grumman in 2016 to come up with a vision of telescopes 50 years from now, alongside 14 other professors and NASA scientists.

They concluded that one of the major bottlenecks preventing the construction of more powerful telescopes is the difficulty in constructing the massive mirrors required for conventional observatories.

Conventional lenses use refraction to focus light, meaning they change the direction of light when it passes from one medium to another — like when light enters water. Diffraction, meanwhile, is when light bends around corners and obstacles. This can be achieved by arranging a pattern of steps and angles on a glass lens.

Today, these types of lenses are typically used in small consumer optics, such as camera lenses and virtual reality headsets. Diffractive lenses are known for producing blurry images, which is why they haven't traditionally been used for astronomical observations.

Apai and his team have worked on producing a new type of diffractive lens that produces a much higher-quality image. What's more, because it's the surface texture of the lens rather than its thickness doing the focusing, it's easy to make the lens larger while keeping it thin and lightweight.

With NASA not expecting to launch a successor to James Webb until the 2040s — the multi-billion-dollar Habitable World Observatory (HWO) will be tasked with investigating exoplanets — the Nautilus team could present diffractive lenses as an ideal alternative that could help us peer further into the distant cosmos at a fraction of the cost.