NASA plans to test a package of piezoelectric polymer films from Sandia National Laboratories during the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-6) in 2007. Space telescopes equipped with piezoelectric polymer films will be quite different from the Hubble, which was deployed into orbit in 1990 and uses the traditional polished glass mirror approach, and the James Webb Space Telescope scheduled for launch in 2013, which will be made of 18 beryllium mirror segments. Instead, the new polymer film mirrors will be lightweight, and — because of their piezoelectric qualities — can adjust focal lengths when electrical fields are remotely applied.
Great stuff
