Metal-rubber mirrors would be light and rugged, and would be ideal for use in cameras, space probes or satellites.
Gary Ruvkun, a Harvard molecular biologist, has been trying to figure out ways of designing space probes that could test the idea for years.
In other words, future space probes are likely to go wrong in new and unexpected ways as well as some of the old familiar ones.
But the slow decay in radiation intensity from a tabletop pulsar would make possible extremely long-range transmitters, giving far-off space probes an energy-efficient way to beam information back to earth.
The existing laws of gravity predict the motions of the planets extremely well, making it hard to modify them to cater to the errant ways of a couple of pesky space probes.
After her stint with Aldebaran in Paris she went back to MIT to get a master's degree, then worked for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. (which makes space probes), and Syyn Labs, a robotics art collective.
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You develop your space center, open space exploration programs ranging from the early probes and space planes to projects that are based on possible future developments.
So, watch this space as Swift probes out further than any telescope has gone before.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Telescope looks to go to the edge
That group, backed by investors such as filmmaker James Cameron and Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, says it hopes to get its first unmanned probes into space by the end of 2013.
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The European Space Agency got a head start Monday in sending probes to Mars to look for extraterrestrial life.
In 1977, two unmanned scientific probes were launched from planet Earth into outer space.
Deep Space Industries said it can build its first class of probes largely with off-the-shelf parts and book them on other launch vehicles, such as the French-built Ariane rockets or the Falcon boosters developed by SpaceX.
At present, British government policy specifically bars any public programmes connected with human spaceflight, and it has directed that any monies instead go towards the robotic exploration of space - for example in Earth observation and unmanned planetary probes.
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