Development of next generation compact time-of-flight plasma instruments for heliophysics exploration.

Key limiting factor in carbon foil based, mass-discriminating time-of-flight ion plasma instruments in the 0 eV to 10s of keV energy range (e.g., ion outflow, ion precipitation, plasmasphere, cloak, plasma sheet, lower ring current, magnetotail, and core solar wind populations) is the use of ulta-thin carbin foils. These foils drive instrument design, requiring significant post acceletation voltage (~15-25 kV, depending on science reqjuirements). These voltages require larger high voltage power supplies and increased standoff distances (1mm/kV) to safely operate instruments, driving up required instrument resources (especially volume and weight). They also have limited angular (azimuth) resolution (so far demonstrated 11.25˚), and no high resolution ability to perform STOP position sensing to better than ~22.5˚ due to significant ion scattering in those foils. In recent years, alternative replacement technologies for ultra thin carbon foils have emerged: (a) graphene foils, which are crystalline carbon foils with ~15% the thickness of ultrathin amorphous carbon foils, thus reducing energy straggling and scattering significantly, and (b) micropore optics (MPO) arrays, which are MCP-like devices with large, square holes that present a large surface area for creating secondary electrons for time-of flight timing through grazing incidence of primary ions in the MPO device, thus likewise reducing energy straggling and scattering significantly. Both technologies have been proven to TRL 4. GOAL: The primary goal of this proposal is to develop and beam test a full-up instrument prototype NTOF ("New Time-Of-Flight") for a compact top hat ESA, TOF-based ion spectrometer that replaces carbon foils with MPOs and graphene foils, elevating the technology to TRL 6 for future flight opportunities. We meet this goal by meeting three project objectives: OBJECTIVES: Objective 1: Build TRL 6 eligible prototype TOF sections for position sensitive carbon foil, graphene, and MPO based systems. Methodology: We incorporate MPOs and graphene foils into an existing instrument prototype ion TOF section that is designed to operate with variable post-acceleration voltages from 0 V to 16 kV. This will be mated with a ESA/deflector to form complete instrument design for testing. Objective 2: Perform ion beam testing to characterize MPO and graphene TOF performance in a realistic, space-flight capable TOF system. Methodology: The core of the NTOF project is an extensive testing program that quantifies performance of carbon foils, graphene foils, and MPO arrays in a form, fit and function flight-worthy TOF instrument design, for a range of energies (100 eV to 33 keV) and multiple relevant species (e.g., H+, He+, He++, O+, and others), bringing graphene and MPO technologies to TRL 6. Testing will be performed using a "bare" TOF and a fully assemble ESA/TOF unit, using position sensing START an STOP anodes and FPGA-based time-of-flight determinations. Objective 3: Perform UV testing of the full-up NTOF system with ESA. Methodology: We apply different levels of blackening to ESA and deflector surfaces in-house as a cost effective and realistic way to measure the response of the TOF approaches under different UV conditions. This test both the effectiveness of various levels of UV blackening, but also provides four distinct levels of UV input that pass through the electro-optics and impinge on the TOF section. This provides direct comparison of (undesirable) UV sensitivity for carbon foils, graphene, and MPOs in this application. RELEVANCE: This project responds directly to the NRA's call for developing "(…) technologies that will enable smaller missions in deep space". NTOF also directly addresses the desire to understand the sources and fate of plasma, which are of central importance to NASA's vision and the past and upcoming National Academy Decadal Surveys.

Support NASA's Heliophysics strategic science objectives to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth and the solar system, including space weather. This will be achieved by developing/demonstrating instrumentation technology necessary to address the following science goals: Explore the physical processes in the space environment from the Sun to the Earth and throughout the solar system; Advance our understanding of the connections that link the Sun, the Earth, planetary space environments, and the outer reaches of our solar system; Develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space to protect life and society and to safeguard human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.