"Revolutionizing Space Exploration: Deformable Mirrors Unveil Earth-Sized Worlds"

Next-generation space telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based arrays like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), are incorporating deformable mirrors (DMs) to directly image exoplanets and study their atmospheres. DMs can correct for imperfections in the telescope and remove starlight contamination, allowing for the detection and characterization of smaller rocky exoplanets. NASA is actively developing DM technology through its Deformable Mirror Technology project, with plans to demonstrate their effectiveness on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in 2027. The lessons learned will contribute to the development of DMs for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HabEx) mission, which aims to directly image planetary systems around Sun-like stars.