How Lobster Eyes Have Inspired Astronomers to Get a Wider View of Space

Lobsters in Space!

Inspired a new generation of space telescopes

For more than half a century, scientists have sought to understand cosmic X-rays and what they reveal about our galaxy and the universe beyond it. As it turns out, lobsters can help astronomers do just that.

These crustaceans have specialized eyes that can sense motion in low-light environments. By mimicking their unique structure, scientists can build visual equipment, or optics, for missions outside of Earth’s orbit aiming to capture stray X-rays. In the future, this technique could broaden astronomers’ view of the sky to detect astronomical events both near and far.

X-rays are emitted from celestial bodies that are extremely hot. Astronomers study them to learn more about black holes, galaxy clusters, stars that have exploded, and other high-energy events that have long remained elusive. Going forward, the lobster eye-inspired technology may allow scientists to observe various X-ray sources over long periods of time and get a better sense of how they transform.

Lobster-based optics could impact astronomers’ understanding of everything from comets to stars and quasars to catastrophic supernovae events, George Fraser, Director of the University of Leicester Space Research Center, said in 2006.

A lobster’s eye reflects incoming light rays instead of refracting (i.e. bending) them as human eyes do. Each lobster eye is made up of around 10,000 small square tubes called facets, which have reflective inner walls.

These facets reflect light rays and concentrate them at the same point.

In 1970, Roger Angel at the University of Arizona proposed that the workings of a lobster eye could be transferred to technology for the use of X-ray telescopes. It was at this point George Fraser and the University team developed the technology further.

It is now known as Micro-pore Optics and Silicon-pore Optics, depending on how the tubes are made.

The space telescopes inspired by lobsters – BBC World Service

“Lobsters and similar animals use reflecting mirrors to focus light in their eyes, unlike the lenses used by people,” said Professor Julian Osborne, who is one of the scientists leading this work at Leicester. “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 rigors of a rocket launch.”

This new technology isn’t just bound for space. By reversing the technology, we can create parallel beams of X-rays that can be used as airport scanners, cargo scanners, and even for bomb detection in the military.

We can also use the same technique of microchannels to analyze and monitor biological material; this could help evaluate the effectiveness of certain treatments for bladder cancer, as one example.

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